Famous Hungarian Engineers

Dennis Gabor was a Hungarian-British physicist and electrical engineer best remembered for inventing holography. His invention earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. Gabor won several awards during his lifetime. After his demise, many awards are given in his honor. The Dennis Gabor Award and Gabor Medal are some of the awards that are named after him.

A Stanford PhD, Charles Simonyi initially worked on one of the world’s first computers for Xerox. He is best known for developing Microsoft Office. Though he launched his own firm, Intentional Software, he later sold it to Microsoft. Part of the Forbes Billionaires 2021 list, he also donates extensively to educational charitable causes.

Orban was a Hungarian engineer and iron founder. He is best remembered for casting large-calibre artillery that were used during the Ottoman siege of Constantinople. Originally from the Byzantine Empire, Orban joined hands with the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II when the Byzantines couldn't afford Orban's high demands. The famous Dardanelles Gun was modeled after Orban's bombard.

Hungarian-American mathematician Theodore von Karman is best known for his research on aeronautics. Born to a professor father, Karman was a math prodigy in childhood and was pushed into engineering. He was also the first recipient of the National Medal of Science. A bachelor for life, he lived with his mother and sister.

Known as an eccentric thinker, Wolfgang von Kempelen is best remembered for his automatic chess-playing machine The Turk and his speaking machine. The Turk eventually turned out to be a hoax, designed by Kempelen to impress Maria Theresa, the Austrian Empress, and had human chess players operating it.

Hungarian-American engineer Peter Carl Goldmark contributed to many pathbreaking inventions, of which the most notable was the commercial color TV and the LP record. Known for his stint with Columbia Records, he also developed a scanning system used by the US to relay photos from the Moon to the Earth.

In his 20s, Hungarian inventor Otto Blathy co-invented the transformer and various other engines and motors that are used in AC technology. In spite of being born into an affluent merchant family, he pursued science. Apart from his interest in electrical engineering, he was also known for authoring various chess problems.

Hungarian physicist and engineer Kalman Tihanyi had initially been part of the Hungarian Royal Army. He later made significant contributions to the development of the cathode ray tube with his invention Radioskop and was thus a pioneering figure in the development of the electronic TV.

Hungarian military leader and minister of war Artúr Görgey was one of the most prominent figures of the Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Following his revolution against the Habsburg Empire, he was named the dictator of Hungary by Lajos Kossuth. Though he was branded a traitor, his name was later cleared.

Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and electrical engineer who helped in the development of GE’s first transistor radio. From being a prisoner at Germany’s Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, he went on to study engineering in Switzerland and later joined GE’s Syracuse laboratory. He also developed satellite navigation for commercial ships and the navy.