Hungarian Nobel-price owners:

Fulop Lenard (Pozsony, 1862. VII. 7.; Messelhausen, 1947. V. 20.)

He was a student in Pozsony. He had a prominent teacher, Virgil Klatt. He worked with him together after the university. He studied in Budapest, Berlin and Heidelberg. For a short period he was the assistant lecturer of Lorant Eotvos and after this he lived in Germany. He became the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy in 1897. He got his Nobel price in 1905 in physics. 

Robert Barany (Vienna, 1876. IV. 22.; Uppsala, 1936. IV.8.)

His father moved out from Hungary but he has relatives even nowadays in Hungary. But he hardly had any contact with the Hungarian science. He got the medical Nobel price in 1914. In the I. World War he got into Russian captivity and the Swedish government freed him from there as a Nobel price owner. After the war he went to Vienna but he could`t get a post there, so he went to Sweden. In Uppsala he became a professor at the university.

Richard Zsigmondy (Vienna, 1865. IV. 1.; Gottingen, 1929. IX. 23.)

His parents are both Hungarians, but he hadn`t cot any connection with the Hungarian culture. This shows up, that when he got the Nobel price in 1925, the Hungarian newspapers hadn`t mentioned it.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (Budapest, 1893. IX. 16.; Woods Hole, 1986. X. 22.)

He was graduated in 1917 at the University of Budapest at the Faculty of Medicine. After this he worked at the Universities of Netherlands, Germany, England and USA. In 1928 Kuno Klebelsberg, minister of education, invited him to Szeged University. He moved there in 1930 and worked there when he discovered vitamin-C. He made experiments with the Hungarian paprika and found that there is a high concentration of ascorbic acid. He got the medical Nobel price in 1937. He was nominated in 1934 for the Nobel price in chemistry but this was invalid because at one time just three person can be nominated (and at that time there were Haworth, Reichstein and Karrer). He became the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy in 1935. He was a pacifist. So in the Soviet-Finn war he gave his Nobel price to the Finnish people. Fortunately a rich Finnish bought it and gave it back to the Hungarian National Museum. After the II. World War he became a professor on the Budapest University. Because of political matters he left his country in 1947. He moved to Switzerland and after it to the USA. He worked there in cancer research.

Gyorgy Hevesy (Budapest, 1885. VIII. 1.; Freiburg, 1966. VII. 5.)

He studied in Budapest and other universities. He became a doctor in Freiburg. In 1918 he became a professor at the Budapest University, but he left it in 1919 and moved to Koppenhague. Here he discovered with Oster the hafnium. After this he was the professor of the University of Freiburg. In 1933 he went back to Denmark and when the nazis possessed it, he went to Sweden. Between 1924 and 1936 he was nominated 7 times for the Nobel price and he got it in 1943. He became the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy in 1945.

Gyorgy Bekesy (Budapest, 1899. VI. 3.; Honolulu, 1972. VI. 13.)

He spent his student time in different countries as a son of a diplomat but he got his diploma at Budapest University. In 1939 he became the leader of the Department of Natural Sciences Research. He became the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy in 1939. In 1946 he moved abroad; first to Stockholm, then to Harvard University. He also worked at Hawaii University to the end of his life. He got his Nobel price in 1961.

Jeno Wigner (Budapest, 1902. XI. 17; Princeton, 1995. I. 3.)

After the high school he studied at the Berlin Technical College as a chemist. He became a doctor here. For a short time he moved back to Budapest. After this he worked in Germany and from 1930 in Princeton. He had a determining part in making the atom bomb. He got the Nobel price in 1963 –together with Maria Goeppert Mayer and J.H.D. Jensen. He became the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy in 1988.

Denes Gabor (Budapest, 1900. VI. 5.; London, 1979. II. 5.)

He started his studies at the Budapest Technological University and finished it in 1927 in Charlottenburg. He became a doctor here in 1927. He was a researcher at the Siemens-Halske Co. and at the British Thomson-Houston Co. From 1949 he worked for the London Imperial College as a professor. He got the Nobel price in 1971 for inventing the holography. In 1964 he became the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy.

John Charles Ploanyi (Berlin, 1930. I. 23.)

He studied at Manchester University and worked for English, American and Canadian universities. From 1962 he is the professor of the Toronto University. He got the Nobel price –together with D.R. Herschbach and Yuan T. Lee in 1986.

Elie Wiesel (Maramarossziget, 1928. XI. 30.)

He survived the deportation as the only one in his family. After the war he lived in Paris and from 1963 he is an American citizen. He is a great writer, he got his Nobel price because he was a great leader in the time of racism.

Gyorgy Olah (Budapest, 1927. V. 29.)

He studied at the Budapest Technical University as a chemist. In 1956 he moved first to Canada, then to USA. First he worked at the Case Western University, then at the University of Southern California. He got the Nobel price in 1994. His works opened a new way creating carbon hydrogen. He has a connection with Hungarian researchers; in 1990 became he the member of the Hungarian Scientific Academy.

Janos Harsanyi (Budapest, 1920. V. 29.)

He got his charter in medicine at the Budapest University in 1942. In 1947 he became the Doctor of Philosophy. In 1950 he moved to Australia and got his diploma at the Sidney University in Economics. He worked at different universities in the USA and in Australia. From 1961 he worked at Berkley University. He got the Nobel price in 1994 together with John Nash and Reinhard Selten.