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Brilliance in Exile

The Diaspora of Hungarian Scientists from John von Neumann to Katalin Karikó
  • István Hargittai , Balazs Hargittai and Ivan T. Berend
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2023
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About this book

By addressing the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of uncommon personalities. István and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that led to five different waves of emigration of scientists from the early twentieth century to the present. Although these exodes were driven by a broad variety of personal motivations, the attraction of an open society with inclusiveness, tolerance, and – needless to say – better circumstances for working and living, was the chief force drawing them abroad.

While emigration from East to West is a general phenomenon, this book explains why and how the emigration of Hungarian scientists is distinctive. The high number of Nobel Prizes among this group is only one indicator. Multicultural tolerance, a quickly emerging, considerably Jewish, urban middle class, and a very effective secondary school system were positive legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Multiple generations, shaped by these conditions, suffered from the increasingly exclusionist, intolerant, antisemitic, and economically stagnating environment, and chose to go elsewhere. “I would rather have roots than wings, but if I cannot have roots, I shall use wings," explained Leo Szilard, one of the fathers of the Atom Bomb.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: István Hargittai Istvan Hargittai, PhD, DSc, is a physical chemist, Professor Emeritus (active) of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. --- Contributor: Balazs Hargittai Balazs Hargittai, PhD (University of Minnesota), is an organic chemist, Professor of Chemistry of Saint Francis University, Loretto, Pennsylvania. --- Contributor: Ivan T. Berend

Ivan T. Berend is Distinguished Research Professor at the History Department of the University of California Los Angeles.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    I
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  • Publicly Available

    Contents

    VI
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    Foreword

    1
    Ivan T. Berend
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  • Introduction
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    Preface

    5
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    Joseph A. Galamb

    19
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    Philipp Lenard

    21
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  • Part 1 Early 1920s
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    Introduction: Fleeing

    25
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    Ervin Bauer

    32
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    Stephen Brunauer

    39
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    Ladislaus Farkas

    45
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    Dennis Gabor

    50
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    George de Hevesy

    56
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    Theodore von Kármán

    63
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    Arthur Koestler

    72
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    Stephen W. Kuffler

    77
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    Nicholas Kurti

    81
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    Cornelius Lanczos

    85
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    John von Neumann

    90
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    Egon Orowan

    99
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    Michael Polanyi

    105
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    George Pólya

    112
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    Elizabeth Rona

    116
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    Leo Szilard

    119
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    Maria Telkes

    127
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    Edward Teller

    129
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    Eugene P. Wigner

    136
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    “Control” —Imre Bródy

    144
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  • Part 2 Late 1930s–early 1940s
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    Introduction: Before It Is Too Late

    147
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    Michael and Alice Balint

    151
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    Ladislao José Biro

    154
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    Paul Erdos

    157
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    John G. Kemeny

    164
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    Olga Kennard

    168
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    Peter D. Lax

    171
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    George J. Popjak

    177
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    Valentine L. Telegdi

    183
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    Laszlo Tisza

    188
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  • Part 3 Immediate Post-World War II
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    Introduction: Post-War and Pre-Soviet Trauma

    195
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    Endre A. Balazs

    198
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    Zoltan Bay

    204
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    Georg von Békésy

    209
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    Lars Ernster

    215
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    John C. Harsanyi

    221
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    Avram Hershko

    224
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    Georg Klein and Eva Klein

    230
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    Albert Szent-Györgyi

    237
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  • Part 4 1956
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    Introduction: In the Wake of Suppressed Revolution

    245
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    Laszlo Z. Bito

    248
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    Andy Grove

    252
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    Peter Lengyel

    259
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    Joseph Nagyvary

    265
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    George A. Olah

    269
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    Gabor A. Somorjai

    276
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  • Part 5 1957–1989
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    Introduction: Escape from “Paradise”

    281
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    Gyorgy Buzsaki

    284
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    Gabor Fodor

    288
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    Katalin Karikó

    291
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    Charles Simonyi

    297
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    Agnes Ullmann

    299
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    “Control”—Árpád Furka

    303
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  • Conclusion
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    Thirty Years Later, and Continuing

    309
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    Acknowledgments

    313
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    Select Bibliography

    315
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    The Authors

    317
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    Also by the Authors

    319
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    Index of Names

    323
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 15, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9789633866078
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633866078
eBook ISBN: 9789633866078
Keywords for this book
Science history; Famous scientists; Emigration; 20th-Century politics
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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