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List of famous Slovaks

See also: History of Bratislava - Historic personalities

Politicians and rulers

  • Alexander Dubček (1921-1992) – Prague spring leader
  • MikulᚠDzurinda – third prime minister of modern Slovakia
  • Andrej Hlinka (1864-1938) – a national leader before World War II
  • Gustáv Husák (1913-1991) – president of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s
  • Koceľ (Gozil, Chozilo, Chezilo) (9th century) – ruler of the Balaton principality, son of Pribina
  • Michal Kováč (1930) – the first president of modern Slovakia
  • Vladimír Mečiar (1942) – first prime minister of modern Slovakia
  • Mojmír I (Moimay, Moymar) (?-846) – first ruler (Prince) of Great Moravia. He probably lived in the Devín castle and initially ruled over present-day southern Moravia and a small part of western Slovakia. In 833, he crossed the White Carpathians, and attacked Pribina and his Nitrian Principality (see below). Prince Mojmir successfully defeated Pribina, who fled Nitra, and so Mojmir became the first ruler of what was to become known as the Great Moravian Empire.
  • Pribina (Priwina, Priuuinna) (? – 861)- the first known ruler (Prince) of what is called the Slovak nation today. He lived in the town of Nitra at the beginning of the 9th century, and ruled over the territory of present-day Slovakia from the Nitra castle, called the Nitrian Principality (Principality of Nitra). Initially, Pribina probably was a pagan, but he probably later became a Christian. He is responsible for building the first known church of Western and Eastern Slavs on Slovak soil in 828. Later, in 839, he founded and became the ruler of the Balaton Principality.
  • Rastislav (Rastic, Rasticlao, Rastislaus) (? - 870) – ruler of Great Moravia
  • Samo (? – 658) – ruler of Samo’s Empire
  • Rudolf Schuster (1934)– the second president of modern Slovakia
  • Milan Rastislav Štefánik(1880-1919) - an astronomer, scientist, politician and a general in the French Army, one of the founders of Czechoslovakia, he tragically died in a plane crash near Bratislava (the plane was shot down).
  • Svätopluk(?-894) – king of Great Moravia, responsible for the empire’s greatest expansion
  • Svätopluk II (? - ?906) – ruler of the Nitrian principality
  • Jozef Tiso(1887-1947) – president of the WWII Slovak Republic

Saints

  • St. Zorard (Svorad, Svoradus) (around 1000) - hermit at Skalka near Trenčín, born in Lesser Poland or in northern Slovakia , adopted the name Andrew (Ondrej, Andrej)
  • St. Benedict (original name Stojislav) (? – 1034) – hermit at Skalka near Trenčín, disciple of St. Zorard
  • St. Gorazd (9th century) – a disciple of Cyril and Methodius, 881-884 probably bishop
  • St. Štefan Pongrác - a Catholic priest tortured to death by Gabriel Bethlen’s men in 1619
  • St. Melichar Grodecki - a Catholic tortured to death by Gabriel Bethlen’s men in 1619
  • St. Marek Križin - a Catholic canon tortured to death by Gabriel Bethlen’s men in 1619

Writers

Historic scientists and inventors

  • Vojtech Alexander (Adalbert Alexander) (1857-1916) – one of the greatest radiologists in the world, founder of radiology in historic Hungary, decribed the development of the tuberculosis, owner of the first X-ray apparatus in Slovakia, wrote poems in Slovak
  • Ján Bahýľ (1865-1916) – military engineer, inventor of the motor-driven helicopter (four years before Bréguet and Cornu). Bahyl was granted 7 patents in all, including the invention of the tank pump, air balloons combined with an air turbine, the first petrol engine car in Slovakia (with Anton Marschall) and a lift up to Bratislava castle.
  • Štefan Banič (1870-1941) - inventor of the modern parachute (in 1913)
  • Johann Andreas Bäumler (1847-1926) – famous mycologist
  • Matej Bel (Matthias Bél, Bél Mátyás) (1684-1749) – polyhistor, teacher, one of the greatest Slovak scholars of the eighteen century
  • Anton Bernolák (1762-1813) – author of the first Slovak language standard (in the 1780s), which was based on western Slovak dialects
  • Gregor Berzeviczy (Berzevici) (1763-1822) – economist
  • Juraj Bohus (Georg Bohus) (1687-1722) – geographer, historian, teacher
  • Vojtech Budinský-Krička (1903-1994) – archaeologist
  • Cyprián z Červeného Kláštora (Frater Cyprianus, Jaisge) (1724-1775) – a (German born) monk and natural scientist living in Slovakia, set up the oldest herbarium of Slovakia
  • Ján Dernschwam (Hans Dernschwam) (1494-1567) – a mining expert, chief manager of the Fugger-Thurzo Company in Banska Bystrica
  • Dávid Frölich (Fröhlich) (1595-1648) – matematician, astronomer, teacher, a follower of Kopernikus
  • Samuel Genersich (1768-1844) – botanist, physician
  • Christian Genersich (1759-1825) – theologian, mineralogist, topographer
  • Martin Hattala (1821-1903) - linguist
  • Jozef Karol Hell (Joseph Karl Hell) (1713-1789) – mining engineer active in central Slovakia, has influenced the mining technology considerably, inventor of the water-pillar pump machine (his first machine could pump water up from the depth of 212 meters) , which is used till today for oil extraction
  • Maximilián Hell (Maximilian Hell, Hell Miksa) (1720-1792) – one of the greatest astronomers of the 18th century, the first one to measure the (correct) distance between the Earth and the Sun (in 1769) and to calculate the Sun parallax , designed the observatory of the Trnava University, director of the Imperial Observatory in Vienna
  • Ján Henkel (Johannes Henkel/Henckel) (1490-1535) - humanist
  • Jozef Ľudovít Holuby (1836-1923) – botanist, gave their current names to many plants
  • Ján Hunfalvy (Johann Hunsdorfer, Hunfalvy János) (1820-1888)- geographer
  • Štefan Anián Jedlík (Anianus Jedlik, Jedlik Ányos István) (1800-1895) – constructed the electromagnetic rotor- a predecessor of the modern electro-motor – three years before Farraday and the unipolar dynamo six years before W. Siemens
  • ZachariᚠTeofil Husty (18th century) – one of the first pharmacologists, physician, set up the the medicare system in 1786
  • Ján Jesenský (Johann Jessenius) (1566-1621) – physician, surgeon, anatomist, rector of the Charles University, conducted the first public dissection (in Prague in 1600), Protestant activist
  • Ján Vlk Kempelen (Johann Wolfgang von Kempelen) (1734-1804) - poly-technician and inventor, built the first fountain and pressure water piping, designed a chess machine, a speaking machine and a special typewriter for the blind
  • Andrej Kmeť (1841-1908) – botanist, archaeologist
  • Adam František Kollár (Adam Franz Kollar) (1718-1783) – historian, royal councelor and librarian of the Imperial Library in Vienna
  • Pavol Križko (1841-1902) - historian
  • Albert Laski (Łaski) (1536-1605) – writer, alchemist, humanist, noble (his family stems originally from Poland)
  • Filip Anton Eduard Lenard (Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard) (1862-1947) – a German Nobel prize holder (1905) for physics born in Bratislava, founder of quantum physics
  • Ján Lipský (Johann von Lipsky, Lipszky János) (1766-1826) – cartographer, author of the first lexicon of names of towns and villages in historic Hungary
  • Samuel Mikovíni (1700-1750) – cartographer, author of a separate cartographic method, constructor of artificial water reservoirs near mines
  • Jozef Mistrík (1921-2001) – linguist
  • Jozef Murgaš (1864-1929) – inventor of the wireless telegraph (forerunner of the radio). Murgas' "Rotary-spark-system" allowed for much faster communication, through the use of musical tones. He patented his new invention, which is now listed as the "Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus", as well as more inventions in this field. These patents would go on to form the foundations for the invention of the radio. Also devised a system which greatly improved the Morse code. His other patents include the spinning reel (for fishing), the wave meter, the electric transformer, the magnetic detector, and a engine producing electromagnetic waves.
  • Martin Palkovič (Martin Palkovich) (1606-1662) – philosopher, professor in Trnava, Košice and Vienna
  • Jozef Maximilián Petzval (Joseph Maximilian Petzval, Petzval Józeph Miksa) (1807-1891) – mathematician, optician, constructor of camera zoom lens, he is considered by many to be the founder of modern photography, he is most renowned for his work on optical lenses in the 1840's (invention of the portrait objective), which was instrumental in the construction of modern cameras, he is also remembered for greatly improving the telescope, microscope and designing the opera glass.
  • Karol Rayger (Rayger Károly) (1641 – 1707) – introduced the pulmonary test of new-born children used in forensic medicine till today
  • Izák Potter (Issac Potter) (1690-1735) – born in England, living and working in Banska Stiavnica, engineer, constructor of the first athmospheric steam engine in Europe (in Nova Bana, in 1723)
  • Ján Sambucus (Johann Sambucus) (1531-1584) – a famous humanist at the royal court in Vienna, a historian of the emperor Maximilian II, publisher of works of the Ancients, creator of the biggest private library in the world at that time
  • Ján Andrej Segner (Johann Andrea von Segner, Segner János András) (1704-1777) - physician, physicist, mathematician, designed a reactive water engine - the so-called Segner wheel, inventor of the water turbine principle (which is the basis for the functioning of modern space rockets)
  • Ján Selye (Hans Hugo Brugo Selye, Selye János) (1907-1982) – discovered the stress (reaction) and the adaptational syndrome; born in Komárno, working in Canada
  • Ján Severíni (1716-1789) – historian, natural scientist, author of the first high school textbooks of biology in historic Hungary (together with Matej Piller)
  • Tobias Gottfried Schröer (Christian Oeser) (1791-1850) – writer, teacher in Bratislava
  • Karol Smith (?) – famous piano producer from Bratislava in the early 19th century
  • Leonhard Stöckel (1510-1560) – a famous Protestant teacher, writer
  • Aurel Stodola (1859-1942) – engineer and professor, enabled the construction of steam and gas turbines]] (around 1900), constructor of a movable artificial arm (the Stodola arm) in 1915
  • Dionýz Štúr (1827-1893) – famous geologist, botanist, director of the Imperial Geological Institute
  • Ľudovít Štúr (1815-1856) - best known for his development and establishment of the modern Slovak language (in 1844 it was declared that the central Slovak dialect would be used as the literary language of Slovakia and in 1846 the new language standard was codified for the first time by Štúr in his "Nauka reči slovenskej" [Theory of the Slovak language])
  • Alexander Zahlbruckner (1860-1938)- Austrian lichenologist, born and studying in Slovakia

Classic Music

Popular Music (in the 20th century)

  • Karol Duchoň (1950-1985) – singer (pre-rock period)
  • Gejza Dusík (1907-1988) – composer, musician, author of many evergreens (1st half of the 20th century)
  • Martin Ďurinda (?) – singer of Tublatanka (a band having reacher its height around 1990)
  • Jozef Rហ(?) – current singer of Elán (a band having reached its height in the 1980s)
  • Karol Elbert (1911) – composer, musician (1st half of the 20th century)
  • Boris Filan (1949) – text-writer for many Slovak bands
  • Marika Gombitová (1956) – singer, composer, musician in the 1980s and early 1990s
  • Pavol Habera (1962) – singer, composer, musician (reached his height around 1990)
  • Pavol Hammel (1948) – singer, composer, musician (reached his height the 1970s and 1980s)
  • Gabriel Jonᚠ(1948) – Jazz musician, multiinstrumentalist, composer
  • Jan Kocianová (1946) – singer (pre-rock period)
  • Marcela Laiferová (1945) – singer (pre-rock period)
  • Ján Lehotský (1947) – composer, musician, singer of Modus (a band having reached its height in the late 1970s)
  • Peter Lipa (1943) – the most important current Jazz singer, composer
  • Peter Nagy (1959) – pop singer, text-writer (reached his height in the late 1980s and early 1990s)
  • Vašo Patejdl (1954) – the most important Slovak pop composer in the 1980s and 1990s, singer, musician
  • Kamil Peteraj (1945) – text-writer
  • Richard Müller (1961) – the best-known current Slovak pop-rock singer
  • Dežo Ursiny (1947 – 1995) – composer, rock singer, musician in the 1960s and 1970s
  • Marián Varga (1947) – rock composer, musician in the 1960s and 1970s
  • František Krištof Veselý (1903-1977) – singer from the early popular music period
  • Pavol Zelenay (1928) – swing composer, musician
  • Miroslav Žbirka (1952) – singer, composer from the 1970s to the 1990s

Painters, sculptors, photographers

Architects

Theater

Filmmakers

Sportsmen (except hockey players)

Hockey players

Others

  • Balaša (Balassa) – a prominent Slovak noble family (from the 14th century onwards)
  • Bubek (Bebek) - a prominent Slovak-Hungarian noble family around the 15th century
  • Alžbeta Bátoryová, the „Bloody Lady of Čachtice“ (Elisabeth Báthory-Nádasdy) (1560-1614) – the most famous mass murderer in Slovak and Hungarian history, a countess of the Čachtice castle (near Trencin), she is said to have tortured and killed a lot of young women in her castle (20 - 2000 victims depending on the source) in order to bathe in their blood
  • Ivan Bella (1964) – the first astronaut of Slovakia (in 1998)
  • Móric Beňovský (Maurycy Beniowski, Baron Maurice Auguste de Benyowski,many other name versions) (1746-1786) - Slovak globetrotter, explorer, soldier, writer, and the King of Madagascar
  • Matthew Csák III (of Trencin) (Matúš Čák III (Trenciansky), Chak, Chaak, Czak) (about 1260 – 1321) - was called the ruler of the Váh and the Tatras region, and lived in Trenčin castle in Slovakia. Although never being an official king of Slovakia, he - as a very rich and influential Hungarian magnate - de-facto became the ruler of what is today Slovakia at the beginning of the 14th century. He owned 14 counties and 50 castles and fortresses in the region of present day central and western Slovakia, had an own army and was conferring the same degrees and functions as are awarded by the Hungarian king. After his defeat in the battle near Rozhanovce (at the river Torysa) in 1312, where his army fought against the troops of King Charles Robert of Anjou, his influence started to decrease and his "empire" ceased when he died in 1321 in Trencin.
  • knight Donč of Balaša (?-1344)- an important Slovak noble in the early 14th century
  • Druget (Drugeth) – a prominent Slovak noble family from the 14th to the 17th century (originally from Naples)
  • Samuel Fischer (1859-1934) – founder of the Fischer-Verlag (in 1886), born in Slovakia
  • Forgáč (Forgach) – a prominent Slovak noble family in the Middle ages
  • General Ján Golian (1906-1945) – one of the main organizers of the Slovak National Uprising
  • Alexander of Hunt-Poznan (around 1200) - a prominent Slovak noble
  • Juraj Jánošík (1688- 1713) - the Slovak equivalent of Robin Hood, the topic of many Slovak legends, books and films
  • Juliana Korponaiová-Géciová (Julie Korponay), the „White Lady of Levoča“(1680-1714) – a legendary person responsible for the capitulation of the town of Levoča during the Francis II Rákóczi Uprising
  • Pavel Kray (Paul Kray) (1735-1804) – field marshal, mathematician, engineer, architect, participant of the Seven Years War and of the Turkish War (1788-1789), defeated the Peasant Uprising in Transylvania in 1786
  • Lords of Jelšava (Ilsvay) – a prominent Slovak noble family around the 14th century
  • Lords of Pavlovce (Palóci) – a prominent Slovak noble family in the Middle ages
  • Leustach z Jelšavy (14th century) – a Slovak noble and warrior
  • Rudolf Laban (1875-1958) – dance theoretician; born in Bratislava
  • Theodor von Lerch (1869-1945) – general staff officer; born in Bratislava; instructor of the Japanese army, introduced skiing in Japan, writer
  • Daniel Gabriel Lichard (1812-1882) – important publisher and the first Slovak professional journalist
  • Dušan Makovický (1866-1921) – physician, writer, translator, personal doctor of Leo Tolstoy
  • Ján Literát z Madočian (?-1390) – yeoman, the most famous counterfeiter of documents in historic Hungary
  • Štefan Moyses (1797- 1869) – bishop, patriot, the first president of the Matica Slovenská, the first Slovak cultural institution
  • Štefan Nosáľ (1927) – folklore dancer
  • Omodej of Aba (Amadé, Amadeus) (?-1311) – a prominent noble in eastern Slovakia
  • Peter Pázmaň (Peter Pazmány) (1570-1637) – archbishop, leading personality of counter-reformation in historic Hungary
  • Peréni (Perényi, Lords of Perín) - a prominent Slovak noble family from the 13th to the 16th century
  • Podmanický – a prominent Slovak noble family (from the 15th century onwards)
  • Poznan – a prominent Slovak noble family in Great Moravia and later in Hungary
  • Kozma of Poznan (12th century)– a prominent Slovak noble
  • Friedrich Röck (1825-1884) – admiral, oceanographer, discoverer, born in Slovakia
  • Pavol Rothan (Paul Rubigall(us) ) (1510-1577) – writer, politician, scientist, enterpreneur
  • Rozgoň (Rozgonyi, Lords of Rozhanovce) – a prominent Hungarian-Slovak noble family in the late Middle ages
  • Abrahám Rúfus (Abrahám Ryšavý / Červený) (around 1300) – warrior, reconquered southwestern Slovakia from Austria in 1291
  • Juraj Selepčéni Pohronec (Szelepcsény György) – archbishop
  • Chatam Sófer (1762-1839) – a famous (German born) rabbi of Bratislava
  • Stibor of Stiborice and Beckov (?-1414) - an ethnic Polish noble, who lived in Slovakia, he gained huge properties in western and central Slovakia after 1388 and was sometimes referred to as a petty Slovak king
  • Séči (Széchy, Lords of (Rimavská)Seča) – a prominent Slovak noble family from the 17th century
  • Pavol Jozef Šafárik (Pavel Josef Safarik) (1795-1861) – poet, professor, polyhistor
  • Ladislav Škultéty-Gábriš (1738-1832), the ”eternal soldier” – serving as much as 80 years as sergeant of the Austrian army, the longest lasting military service ever recorded, took part in more then 250 battles and survived five Hapsburg emperors
  • Thököly – a prominent Hungarian-Slovak noble family living in Slovakia in the 16th and 17th century
  • Ján Thurzo I (Johannes Thurzo I) (1437-1508) – mining engineer, enterpreneur, together with the Fuggers founder of the biggest copper producing and trading company in the world of the 1st half of the 16th century - probably the first capitalist company in the world

Referenced By

Famous Slavs | History of Slovakia | List of Slavs | List of famous Slavs | Slovak | Slovakia/History

 

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of famous Slovaks".

 

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