Budapest Windows
Hungarian Nobel Prize Winners
PHILIPP E. A. VON LENARD
June 7, 1862, Pozsony – May 20, 1947, Messelhausen
Philippe Lenard (Fülöp Lénárd) received 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics for “his work on cathode rays.” He lived in Germany and did not consider himself a Hungarian.
ROBERT BÁRÁNY
April 22, 1876, Vienna – April 8, 1936, Uppsala
Robert (Róbert) Bárány received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus.” He lived in Sweden.
RICHARD A. ZSIGMONDY
April 1, 1865, Vienna – September 23, 1929, Göttingen
Richard (Richárd) Zsigmondy received the 1925 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his demonstration of the heterogeneous nature of colloid solutions and for the methods he used, which have since become fundamental in modern colloid chemistry.” He lived in Germany.
ALBERT SZENT-GYÖRGYI
September 16, 1893, Budapest – October 22, 1986, Woods Hole, MA
Albert Szent-Györgyi received the 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine “for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid.” He was a professor at Szeged University in Hungary from 1928 to 1945, and moved to the United States in 1947.
GEORGE DE HEVESY
August 1, 1885, Budapest – July 5, 1966, Freiburg im Breisgau
George de Hevesy (György Hevesy) received the 1943 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for “for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes.” He lived in Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
GEORG VON BÉKÉSY
June 3, 1899, Budapest – June 12, 1972, Honolulu, HI
Georg von Békésy (György Békésy) received the 1961 Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries of the physical mechanism of stimulation within the cochlea.” He lived in the United States.
EUGENE P. WIGNER
November 17, 1902, Budapest – January 1, 1995, Princeton, NJ
Eugene Wigner (Jenő Wigner) received the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles.” He lived in the United States.
DENNIS GABOR
June 5, 1900, Budapest, – February 9, 1979, London
Dennis Gabor (Dénes Gábor) received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his invention and development of the holographic method.” He lived in Great Britain.
JOHN C. POLANYI
January 23, 1929, Berlin –
John Polanyi (János Polányi) is the son of natural scientist Mihály Polányi. He shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes.” He lives in Canada.
GEORGE A. OLAH
May 22, 1927, Budapest –
George Olah (György Oláh) received the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “for his contribution to carbocation chemistry.” He lives in the United States.
JOHN C. HARSANYI
May 29, 1920, Budapest – August 9, 2000, Berkeley, CA
John Harsanyi (János Harsányi) shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics for “pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games.” Relying on the theory designed by his fellow prize-winners, he showed how to analyse games when information was incomplete, creating the foundation for “information economics”. He lived in the United States.
IMRE KERTÉSZ
November 9, 1929, Budapest –
He received the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature “for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history.” His books centre on the horrors of the 20th century: hatred, genocide and the inhumanity in human souls.
famous Hungarians, known Hungarians, Hungarian Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Medicine, Chemistry, Economics, Literature
Family Housing Expenses
Rental prices
- 4 bedroom single standing home outside of Budapest city limits start at 250,000 Ft / 1,000 EUR monthly + utilities
- 4 bedroom single standing home in district 12: 750,000 – 1,500,000 Ft / 3,000 – 6,000 EUR monthly + utilities
JÁNOS SZENTÁGOTHAI – Biochemist, neuroscientist
October 31, 1912, Budapest – September 8, 1994, Budapest
Biochemist, neuroscientist
János Szentágothai received his degree in medicine from the Budapest University of Medicine in 1936. He advanced quickly as a university instructor, becoming certified as a professor or neurological anatomy in 1942. Szentágothai became a professor of anatomy at the Pécs (South Hungary) University of Medicine, and director of the university’s Institute of Anatomy in 1946. From 1963 to 1977, he headed the Institute of Anatomy at the Semmelweis University of Medicine in Budapest, where he also chaired the department of anatomy. From 1973 to 1977 Szentágothai was vice-president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and from 1977 to 1985 he was its president.
Szentágothai continued his research projects throughout his life. He was particularly interested in eye movement, balance, the mechanisms of the central nervous system, reflex mechanisms of the brain stem, and the structures of neural inhibitors and of higher-level neuronal centers. Szentágothai made significant discoveries about the gray matter in the temporal regions of the cerebellum. Eventually, his research became focused primarily on neural synapses. One volume he wrote was entitled, The Brainstem as a Neural Machine.
Szentágothai was a popular speaker at international congresses, and played leading roles in numerous domestic and international organizations.
Szentágothai, biochemist, neuroscientist, eye movement, balance, central nervous system, reflex mechanisms of the brain stem, neural inhibitors, neuronal centers, gray matter in the temporal regions of the cerebellum, neural synapses, The Brainstem as a Neural Machine
Key Questions for Your Effectiveness
Key questions in the areas of Individualism, Power-distance and Uncertainty avoidance. Read more »
Student’s Basic Budget in Budapest
Survival budget – This is how much money you will need to have in order to survive in Budapest as a student:
- Accommodation: 40,000-60,000 Ft + utilities
- Food and drink: 30,000 – 40,000 Ft
- Mobility: 3,250 Ft (student pass)
- Insurance: 15,000 Ft
- Leisure activity / recreation: 2,000-12,000 Ft (one movie ticket costs approx. 1,000 Ft)
- Other (phone, internet, clothing, medical expenses, etc.): 15,000-30,000 Ft
Total: 85,000-150,000 Ft
To survive on your own in Budapest, and if you must pay your rent, want to go out only once or twice a month, and have the odd meal at a cheap restaurant, you need the bare minimum of 100,000 Ft monthly as a limited student’s budget.
Convert Ft to your own currency
student’s budget in Budapest, cost of living, Hungary
Go to the Budapest Citadel on Gellért Hill
Go to the Budapest Citadel on Gellért hill. The Citadella is an impressive fortress built originally in the mid 19th century by the Habsburgs.
The Freedom Monument is a statue of a lady with a palm, representing Read more »
Hungarians Unaware of Retirement Risks
Nearly two-thirds of Hungarian workers stop working before the official retirement age, 80% of them voluntarily, a GFK survey commissioned by French insurance group AXA found. Hungary came second in both these categories among the 26 countries surveyed. Read more »
Rebuilt, and Rebuilt Again
In the mid 70’s I had a colleague in university named Bill Dabas. He used to drink a certain ice tea that came in a green can (He used to collect the cans so we could say Dabas liked to collect the Doboz [Hungarian for can] as a little play on words). He would stack the cans against the wall of his dormitory room. Read more »
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
38. When all your curtains and tablecloths are lace that your mom or grandma bought from the Piac.
39. When in the West they refer to you as a gypsy (roma or cigány) descendant and you take great insult to this say “Don’t ever call me that again!”
40. When you know the difference between s and sz. and also u and ü.
The Little Prince and the Fox
It was then that the fox appeared.
“Good morning,” said the fox.
“Good morning,” the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
“I am right here,” the voice said, “under the apple tree.”
“Who are you?” asked the little prince, and added, “You are very pretty to look at.” Read more »
Parenting Completed…
You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round
will wave at his parents every time around – and why his parents will always wave back. Read more »
Outdoor Markets
Idea for Fun in Budapest: Take pictures at outdoor markets.
BKV Budapest Transport Strike Dates Set for May 29 – 30
The Budapest Transport Company union’s strike committee set the dates for a two-day strike at May 29 and 30, two days later than originally planned, to leave more time for negotiations with management, said strike committee chair Gabor Nemes on Friday. Read more »
Spiritual Climate
The people of Budapest tend to be receptive when time is taken to establish personal credibility and trust. Street evangelism tends to repel people where no prior relationship exists. Freedom to cross-denominational boundaries (whether real or perceived) is not granted easily by one’s family or even one’s own conscience. The respect for denominational tradition is a real issue. Read more »
You Know You’re a Hungarian…
1. When you use sour cream more than ketchup.
2. When your parents come to visit for 3 weeks and you all stay in a one bedroom apartment.
3. When feeding your guests is your main priority even if they claim they’re not hungry and in which case you get slightly upset that they don’t want your hospitality.
Orbán in trouble
I know this is a surprising if not ludicrous idea according to most people. How can I say this when according to the latest polls Orbán’s party could easily win the election if it were held this month? How can I say this when there is a minority government and when no one knows what Gábor Fodor will do? How can I say this when Viktor Orbán almost daily “negotiates” with, for instance, businessmen and representatives of the IMF and announces at least twice daily that he wants to have a new “contract” with everybody who is anybody. Yes, I’m sticking by my guns: the more he talks, the more he acts as if he were only a few steps away from being Hungary’s prime minister, the less likely it is that he will have the opportunity to become prime minister earlier than 2010 and perhaps not even then.
The performance of the last few weeks seems to me a series of desperate moves to extricate himself from the web of contradictions that he himself spun. His trouble began with his boastful speech to young political scientists. The politician who until then had publicly claimed that the country’s economic problems could be solved by simply lowering taxes and giving people more money privately proposed to seminar participants (they were sworn to secrecy) an austerity program twice as severe as that of the current government. When the private became public and he was confronted with the charge that he must have been lying to the Hungarian people, he tried to explain things away. But however he tried and is still trying things don’t sound any better.
Read the entire article: Orbán in Trouble »
Work Visa Rules & Regulations in Hungary
Rules governing the issuance of work visas to EEA citizens and other nationals working in Hungary
As of January 1, 2008, citizens of the member states of the European Economic Area (E.U. plus Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Iceland) who are in possession of the requisite qualifications for a specific job, no longer need a work permit to take up employment in Hungary. Read more »
