• Hungarian forint
  • Budapest
  • Police news
  • HelloMagyar
Have you ever heard about the Hungarian Martians?Have you ever heard about the Hungarian Martians?Have you ever heard about the Hungarian Martians?Have you ever heard about the Hungarian Martians?
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Society
  • Sport
  • Culture
  • Special Hungary
  • News To Go
  • World
  • Contact Us
  • About us
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
✕
Important
  • Budapest-Vienna railway connection to be restored with many changes

  • Hungary’s first ever Islamic cemetery to be built near Budapest

  • Brutal fuel price hike comes from January in Hungary

Support us
DNH 2021 DNH 2021 · 11/09/2022
· Society

Have you ever heard about the Hungarian Martians?

When speaking about certain prolific figures in Hungarian science in the early 1900s, some of their western colleagues suggested that they might as well be from Mars with their heavily accented English and superhuman intellect.

A running joke in scientific circles at the time was that Martians had landed in Hungary sometime around 1900 but soon departed after finding the planet unsuitable. However, these higher beings stayed just long enough to leave behind offspring, which turned into exceptionally brainy scientists, later nicknamed ‘The Martians.’ The moniker included five scientists, all Hungarian Jews, all born between 1881 and 1908: Theodore von Kármán, John von Neumann, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner.

Martians from Hungary

It was a nickname fully embraced by this motley crew of scientists. Hungarian physicist György Marx recounts in his book “The Voice of the Martians” that a question was posed in a discussion as to how higher beings from distant galaxies could overlook such an amazing place as our Earth. “It was Leó Szilárd, a man with an impish sense of humor, who supplied the perfect reply…: “They are among us,” he said, “but they call themselves Hungarians.” Dutch physicist Fritz Houtermans, who knew the pack in the 1930s, later quipped that “they were really visitors from Mars,” solidifying this opinion among their peers.

When you study their collective biography, they were obviously in good company. One name that pops up is Albert Einstein, the most notable revolutionary in physics at a time when the field of physics was full of revolutionary thinkers. Another is Robert Oppenheimer, the lead inventor of the nuclear bomb, who would afterward call himself “Death, the destroyer of worlds.” There’s no coincidence here: ‘the Martians’ were a rat pack of scientists with an all-new approach to interwar science. They were thinkers who found hidden connections between disciplines and creatively solved problems, leading to developments like the nuclear bomb.

Take John von Neumann: a chemical engineer with a Ph.D. in mathematics (from two different universities, no less – ETH in Zurich and the University of Budapest, respectively). With his contributions to electronic computing, he may be the missing link between the 19th-century pioneers of programming and the computer revolution ignited by Alan Turing.

Hungarian science in Manhattan Project

There’s also Theodore von Kármán, an expert in aerodynamics for the German Air Force in WWI. The all-new aerial warfare on display during the war was essentially thanks to his efforts. Forced to flee to the USA, even the Nazis realized what they had lost as he was invited back to Nazi Germany by Herman Göring himself. “I decide who is a Jew,” Göring is said to have remarked. (*Though it must be noted that this was an offer von Kármán declined.

Leó Szilárd, another brilliant mind, audaciously introduced himself to Albert Einstein, a partnership that later resulted in, among others, a patent application on silent electromagnetic refrigeration. He fled Germany only one day before the borders closed, half-miraculously avoiding persecution as a Jew. He learned from this situation to be ready to flee at any time – which is why he kept a suitcase packed and ready. It was he who persuaded Albert Einstein to inform President Roosevelt about the concept of the nuclear bomb in a letter, which, though signed by Einstein, was dictated by Szilárd. Later he became a die-hard ethical advocate for the regulation of atomic weapons.

And lastly, Edward Teller, who became an essential part of the Manhattan Project and whose ultimate goal was just the opposite of Silárd’s: to create the ultimate thermonuclear weapon, contrary to Oppenheimer’s reservations.

Experts in different areas and alumni of various universities, ‘the Martians’ were connected by their Hungarian Jewish roots and their complicated paths to American science after fleeing Nazism. With their heavy Bela Lugosi vampire-style accents and off-the-charts intelligence, they proved that they really were on another level.

Source: 3seaseurope.com

If you would like to support the work of the Daily News Hungary staff and independent journalism,
please make a donation here
Hungarian history Hungary science United Kingdom United States
Share

Hot news

  • Budapest-Vienna railway connection to be restored with many changes

  • Budapest Airport: here is the new promo video!

  • Internet no longer free in Hungary?

  • What will Putin say? Hungary manufactures combat vehicles for Ukraine

  • Budapest on the brink of bankruptcy?

  • PHOTOS: Hungary covered in thick snow, in some places it reaches 30 cm

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SUPPORT US
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Must read

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive daily updates, news & stories about Hungary!

Select your location below or enter your country so we can deliver our morning newsletters to you in time.

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

.

Contact us

About us

Copyright rules

Privacy policy

Advertise with us

© 2023 DailyNewsHungary. All rights reserved! | Server and development by Svigelj Levente E.V
Budapest-Vienna railway connection to be restored with many changes

Budapest-Vienna railway connection to be restored with many changes

Read More
Budapest Airport: here is the new promo video!

Budapest Airport: here is the new promo video!

Read More
Internet no longer free in Hungary?

Internet no longer free in Hungary?

Read More
What will Putin say? Hungary manufactures combat vehicles for Ukraine

What will Putin say? Hungary manufactures combat vehicles for Ukraine

Read More
<b> Budapest on the brink of bankruptcy? </b>

Budapest on the brink of bankruptcy?

Read More
PHOTOS: Hungary covered in thick snow, in some places it reaches 30 cm

PHOTOS: Hungary covered in thick snow, in some places it reaches 30 cm

Read More
What happened today in Hungary? – 8 December, 2023

What happened today in Hungary? – 8 December, 2023

Read More
Final decision: euro hundred millions to come to Hungary in 2024

Final decision: euro hundred millions to come to Hungary in 2024

Read More
PM Orbán for deepening Hungarian-Serbian friendship – UPDATED

PM Orbán for deepening Hungarian-Serbian friendship – UPDATED

Read More
Authority: Hungary must change asset declaration system

Authority: Hungary must change asset declaration system

Read More
  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
Have you read it?