The stories of five prominent Hungarian doctors

The world has a lot to thank brilliant doctors and scientist who, through their explorations and studies, changed the field of medicine forever, and made the world a better and healthier place. In Hungary, besides the saviour of mothers Ignác Semmelweis, many other doctors wrote history through their scientific works. Here are five of the greatest Hungarian doctors in history.

Tivadar Margó (1816–1896)

He was born on March 5 in a Serbian family which had Hungarian origins. After finishing grammar school in Pest, he attended the Pest University from 1834 to 1838 where he studied medicine, biology, and social sciences. In 1840 he got a certification as a doctor and continued his studies in Vienna, and one year later he got another certification as a surgeon and doctor.

He returned to Hungary in the same year and started to teach at universities and write studies. He was the first one who made biology and medicine popular in Hungary.

He also taught students in Kolozsvár, Transylvania and published several studies and books abroad. Besides his medical studies, he also made significant steps in the field of zoology.

Margó is often called as the Hungarian Charles Darwin.

József Árkövy (1851–1922)

He started his grammar school studies in Nagyszombat (today Slovakia). He began his medical studies at the University of Budapest in 1871. First, he got a certification as a doctor, later as a surgeon and finally as a dentist. At the beginning of November 1876, he moved to London where in the School of Dental Surgery continued his studies. He graduated as a stomatologist one year later and returned to Hungary.

In 1881 he started to teach dental studies at the University of Budapest. Nine years later he opened his own praxis and did his best to make dental surgery in Hungary the most professional. He was Hungary’s first stomatologist.

Árkövy published several books, studies, and articles both in Hungarian and English. His profession and wide-knowledge were well-known across the continent.

In 1918, he became the world’s first professor of stomatology.

Róbert Bárány (1876–1936)

He was born to an Austrian mother and a Hungarian Jewish father on April 22. He was the eldest of six children in the family. He attended the medical school in Vienna and graduated in 1900. In 1905 he started to work at the Clinic of Otorhinolaryngology.

Bárány was the first one in history who wrote down the structure of the human ears and how do they function. Before Bárány, medicine only assumed some information from animal experiments. Also, he was the first scientist who established the medical theory of the human balance system.