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Hungarian Nobel Prize winners

© Haragos Pal

In this article I would like to introduce Hungarian scientists who have awarded a Nobel Prize for their work. They born and learned in Hungary, but most of them worked out of the border of Hungary. The most famous scientist, who won the Nobel Prize for its work when he lived in Hungary is Prof. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi biochemist (1893-1989)

He took a degree in 1917, and work as an instructor in the University of Pozsony, Hungary (today Bratislava, Slovakia). After the World War I when Pozsony became Czechoslovakian territory he moved to Germany and the USA. He worked as a researcher in Berlin, Hamburg, Cambridge and Baltimore. Between 1930 and 1945 he was a professor of the University of Szeged, Hungary. He was invited to this position by the minister of culture. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi was the first who isolated the vitamin C (ascorbic acid), using the famous green pepper of Szeged, and who studied its effect on human body. He demonstrated that vitamin C is playing a significant role in the cellular breathing and it increases the resistance of organism against infectious diseases.

In 1937 Albert Szent-Gyorgyi won the Nobel medical prize for its revelations on biological burning process wit reference to vitamin C and fumar acid.

During the World War II he had discussions with the delegate of the British government. Since 1947 he has followed its research in the USA.

Dennis Gabor (Gabor Denes) physicist (1900-1979)

Denes Gabor was born in Budapest in 1900. He moved to London and worked out the theory of holography in the 1940s. In the 1950s after discovering the laser, a possibility opened to use the theory of holography.

In 1971 he won the Nobel physical prize for discovering the holographic method.

Hologram is a dynamic photo which shows a three-dimensional picture.

Richard Zsigmondy (Zsigmondy Richard) chemist (1865-1929)

Richard Zsigmondy was Hungarian by birth. He was a professor of the University of Jena and Gottingen. His specialisation was the research of colloid chemistry to solve the problem of colouring the material of glass and porcelain.

In 1903 Richard Zsigmondy and Wilhelm Siedentoff developed the ultra-microscope, which made possible to research 0.001 mm large molecules.

In 1925 Richard Zsigmondy won the Nobel chemical prize for the research of the character of colloidal solution.

Georg von Bekesy (Bekesy Gyorgy) physicist (1899-1972)

Gyorgy Bekesy has learned in the University of Budapest. In 1939 he became a professor there. He researched the possibility of improvement the sound transmission with reference to telephone. Since 1946 he has followed its research in Sweden and the USA.

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