Before World War I, Hungary was a hub of scientific innovation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (founded in 1825) supported research in fields like mathematics, physics, and medicine. Notable figures include János Bolyai, a pioneer of non-Euclidean geometry, and László József, a key figure in bacteriology. Hungary also contributed significantly to engineering and astronomy.
After WWII, Hungary came under Soviet influence, and the Communist regime (1949) limited intellectual freedom. Despite this, scientists like László Tisza and institutions like the Institute of Nuclear Research advanced fields such as nuclear physics. However, many researchers fled during the 1956 Revolution, leading to a "brain drain."
In the 1960s-80s, Hungary experienced some scientific thawing, with global recognition in mathematics (e.g., Paul Erdős) and computer science (e.g., John von Neumann). After the fall of Communism in 1989, Hungary regained prominence in global scientific research. The latest prrof f that is a double-win of the Nobel Prize in 2023 in physics and medicine.
A delightful story illustrating this phenomenom is the story of "The Martian Joke", often credited to John von Neumann. During a lecture in the U.S., someone asked why so many geniuses seemed to come from Hungary. Von Neumann, without missing a beat, said, “It’s simple. Hungarians are Martians who landed on Earth, but we decided to blend in by speaking a language no one else could understand!”