Famous Hungarians
Hungary's outsized contribution to world science, arts, and culture — especially given the country's size — is a source of great national pride. Here is a selection of remarkable Hungarians who left their mark on the world.
Scientists & Inventors
- Albert Szent-Györgyi — Discovered Vitamin C (Nobel Prize in Physiology, 1937)
- John von Neumann — Pioneered modern computer architecture and quantum mechanics
- Edward Teller — Nuclear physicist; key contributor to the Manhattan Project
- Dennis Gabor — Invented holography (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1971)
- László Bíró — Invented the ballpoint pen
- Ernő Rubik — Created the Rubik's Cube
- János Irinyi — Invented the safety match
- József Galamb — Designed the Ford Model T
- John George Kemény — Co-developed the BASIC programming language
Arts & Letters
- Franz Liszt — Composer and virtuoso pianist; founder of the Budapest Academy of Music
- Béla Bartók — Composer who transformed 20th-century music through ethnomusicology
- Zoltán Kodály — Composer and music educator; the Kodály method is taught worldwide
- Imre Kertész — Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize-winning author (Fateless, 2002)
- Robert Capa — Arguably the greatest war photographer of the 20th century; co-founder of Magnum Photos
Film & Media
- William Fox (Vilmos Fried) — Founder of 20th Century Fox
- Joseph Pulitzer — Publisher and founder of the Pulitzer Prize
- Bela Lugosi — The definitive Count Dracula on stage and screen
- Tony Curtis — Hollywood star; Some Like It Hot, Spartacus
- Vilmos Zsigmond — Academy Award-winning cinematographer (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Sports
- Ferenc Puskás — Widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time
- Judit Polgár — The greatest female chess player in history; achieved grandmaster at 15
- Harry Houdini (Erik Weisz) — Born in Budapest; the world's most famous escape artist
- Aladar Gerevich — Seven-time Olympic gold medallist in fencing