List of Slovaks

Anton Bernolák, Ľudovít Štúr, Andrej Hlinka, Štefan Banič, Jozef Miloslav Hurban, Aurel Stodola, Adam František Kollár, Milan Hodža, Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Gustáv Husák, Alexander Dubček

The Slovak people are an ethnic group mostly inhabiting the modern-day nation of Slovakia, as well as near surrounding areas. Slovaks have played an active role in European history, including politically, militarily, scientifically, culturally, and religiously. Ethnic Slovaks have inhabited Central Europe since the Middle Ages. Slovaks were minority citizens of Hungary, and subsequently Austria-Hungary, from the 7th Century until the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 by the Treaty of Versailles. After Slovak calls for greater autonomy dissolved the Czechoslovakian parliament, the Slovak Republic was formed in 1993. Many Slovaks and their achievements are erroneously considered solely Hungarian or Czech achievements based on their minority position within a larger, multicultural nationality. Slovaks identify with a nuanced understanding of national and ethnic identity, often embracing a national citizenship while maintaining their Slovak culture. In Hungary, Slovaks have had to resist violent efforts of forced assimilation by ethnic Magyars (cir. 1848) to preserve their language and culture. The major language among Slovaks is Slovakian.

The page lists notable people who are citizens of Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, or were of Slovak identity, ancestry or ethnicity.

Politics

Politicians (contemporary)

Prime Ministers of the Slovak Republic:

Presidents:

Other:

  • Maroš Šefčovič – EU Commissioner
  • Peter Tomka (1956) – Vice-President of the International Court of Justice
  • Timothy Hudak (1967) - Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada
  • John Mika (1943) - Republican Congressman representing Florida's Seventh Congressional District
  • Jesse Ventura (1951) – 38th Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, as well as an actor, author, and former professional wrestler. His parents were from Slovakia, and his legal name is James George Janos.

Politicians (19th and 20th century)

Fighters, Warriors, Soldiers and Revolutionaries

  • Jozef Gabčík (1912–1942) – Soldier who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, architect of the Holocaust, under Operation Anthropoid.
  • Alexander Petrovič (1823-1849) – Hungary's national poet and one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Petőfi Sándor in Hungarian.
  • Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1817–1886) Freedom fighter and leader of the 1848 Slovak National Uprising against the Hungarians.
  • Rudolf Viest (1890–1945?) – Anti-Fascist military leader, member of the Czechoslovak government in exile, member of the Slovak National Council and the commander of the 1st Czechoslovak army during the Slovak National Uprising. First and only Slovak to reach the position of General in the interwar Czechoslovak Army.
  • Brigadier General Ján Golian (1906–?1945) – Supreme Military Leader of the Slovak National Uprising against the Nazis until the arrival of Rudolph Viest. Golian is believed to have been murdered by the Nazis in a concentration camp.
  • Michael Strank – U.S. Marine during World War II; the leader of the group of U.S. marines who photographed in Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
  • Augustín Malár (1894–1946) – WWII General who commanded the East Slovak units of the First Slovak Republic, a Nazi protectorate state. Deported to Germany and died in a concentration camp.
  • Jozef Turanec (1892–1957) – Slovak General and Nazi sympathizer during World War II.
  • Gustáv Wendrinský (1923–1945) – Slovak SS–Oberscharführer
  • Karol Sidor (1901–1953) Hlinka Guard (The Slovak equivalent to the SA) first commander.
  • Matej Kocak (1882–1918) – United States Marine Corps sergeant during World War I, posthumously awarded both the U.S. Army and Navy Medals of Honor for action against the enemy on July 18, 1918. He was born in the town of Gbely, in Western Slovakia, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1906.

First Ladies

Religion

Notable religious figures

Religious Leaders

  • Štefan Moyses (1797–1869) – Bishop, patriot and the first president of the Matica Slovenská, the first Slovak cultural institution.
  • Jozef Roháček (1877–1962) – Protestant activist and scholar who translated the first Slovak Bible from the original languages
  • Alexander Rudnay (1760–1831)(hung.: Rudnay Sándor) – Parish priest who became Archbishop of Esztergom, Prince Primate of the Kingdom of Hungary and a Cardinal.
  • Ján Sokol (1933– ) – Priest and former Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Trnava
  • Juraj Haulik (1788–1869) - Croatian Cardinal of Slovak ethnicity and the first Archbishop of Zagrab. Acting Ban of Croatia for two separate terms.

Science and technology

Philosophers, Polyhistors, Teachers

  • Pavol Jozef Šafárik (Paul Joseph Schaffarik, Pavel Josef Safarik) (1795–1861) – poet, professor, polyhistor
  • Jakob Jakobeus (1591–1645) – poet, historian, priest, and writer

Linguists, Humanists and Historians

  • Anton Bernolák (1762–1813) – Lower nobleman, Jesuit, author of the first Slovak language standard (in the 1780s), which was based on western Slovak dialects.
  • Ľudovít Štúr (Ludevít Štúr) (1815–1856) – Best known for his role in the development of the modern Slovak language. In 1844 he suggested that the central Slovak dialect be used as the literary language of the Slovaks, and in 1846 he codified the new language standard in his Nauka reči Slovenskej." [Theory of the Slovak language]
  • Adam František Kollár (Adam Franz Kollar) (1718–1783) – Lower nobleman, historian and jurist who rose to the ranks of Imperial-Royal Court Councilor and Chief Imperial-Royal Librarian of Empress Maria Theresa. Coined the term "ethnology."
  • Janko Matúška (1821–1877) - Author of the Slovak national anthem.
  • Martin Hattala (1821–1903) – Linguist.

Inventors and Engineers

  • Jozef Murgaš (1864–1929) – Inventor of the wireless telegraph (forerunner of the radio). Murgas' "Rotary-spark-system" allowed for much faster communication, through the use of musical tones. He patented his new invention, which is now listed as the "Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus", as well as more inventions in this field. These patents would go on to form the foundations for the invention of the radio. Also devised a system which greatly improved the Morse code. His other patents include the spinning reel (for fishing), the wave meter, the electric transformer, the magnetic detector, and an engine producing electromagnetic waves.
  • Aurel Stodola (1859–1942) – Engineer and professor, enabled the construction of steam and gas turbines (around 1900), constructor of a movable artificial arm (the Stodola arm) in 1915
  • John Dopyera (Ján Dopjera) (1893–1988) – Inventor of music instruments, invented the Dobro resonator guitar

Aviation

  • Ján Bahýľ (1865–1916) – Military engineer, inventor of the motor-driven helicopter (four years before Bréguet and Cornu). Bahýľ was granted 7 patents in all, including the invention of the tank pump, air balloons combined with an air turbine, the first petrol engine car in Slovakia (with Anton Marschall) and a lift up to Bratislava castle.
  • Štefan Banič (1870–1941) – The inventor of the military parachute and of the first actively used parachute
  • Ivan Alexander Getting (1912—2003) - American physicist and electrical engineer, credited (along with Bradford Parkinson) with the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Natural Sciences and Medicine

  • Vojtech Alexander (1857–1916) – revolutionary radiologist
  • Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (1923–2008) – American physician and Nobel Prize winner of Slovak descent
  • Andreas Jaszlinszky (18th century) – Jesuit physics professor
  • Ján Jesenský (Johann Jessenius) (1566–1621) – physician, surgeon, anatomist, rector of Charles University, Protestant activist and politician
  • Ján Vilček (1933) - biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist
  • Milan Jamrich (1950) - developmental biologist and educator; currently a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Molecular and Human Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas

Geology, Mineralogy

  • Dimitrij Andrusov (1897–1976) – geologist and paleontologist, founder of modern Slovak geology
  • Jan Veizer (1941) – geochemist and paleoclimatologist

Archeology

Physics

Mathematics

Computer Science

Astronomy

  • Matthias Bel – 17th century astronomer. He made first relatively precise measurement of distance from Earth to Sun.

Astronomers (20th century)

Astronauts / Cosmonauts

  • Ivan Bella (1964) – the first cosmonaut of Slovakia (in 1998)
  • Eugene Cernan (1934) – U.S. astronaut, last man to set foot on the Moon, son of the Slovak immigrant Ondrej Čerňan.
  • Michael Fincke (1967)- U.S. astronaut, current American record holder for time in space, grandson of Margaret Hornyak Fincke

Culture

Literature

See list of Slovak prose and drama authors.
See list of Slovak poets.

Music

Classical

Composers
For a longer list, see separate article.
Conductors
Instrumentalists
  • Marián Lapšanský (1947) – pianist, [1]
  • Peter Michalica (1945) – violinist
  • Marcel Buntaj (1974) – drummer, pianist, composer[2]
Opera Singers

Jazz

  • Peter Lipa (1943) – an important current Jazz singer, composer
  • Laco Deczi (1938) – Jazz musician, trumpet player, composer
  • Martin Valihora (1976) – Jazz musician, drummer
  • Ľubomír Burgr – musician, composer, vocalist
  • Jaroslav Filip (1949–2000) – musician, composer, vocalist, actor, playwright
  • Marika Gombitová (1956) – singer, composer, musince theician s second half of the 1970s
  • Dave Grohl (1969) – drummer of Nirvana, singer of Foo Fighters
  • Pavol Hammel (1948) – singer, composer, musician (reached his height the 1970s and 1980s)
  • Jana Kirschner – musician, composer, vocalist
  • Jana Kocianová (1947) singer, musician, jazzman, gospels singer reached her height the 1970s
  • Ján Lehotský (1947) – composer, musician, singer of Modus (a band having reached its height in the late 1970s)
  • Peter Lipa – musician, composer, vocalist, scatman, jazzman, co-organiser of BJD (Bratislava Jazz Days) festival
  • Laco Lučenič (1952) – musician, producer, member of Modus
  • Richard Müller (1961) – the best-known current Slovak pop-rock singer
  • Vašo Patejdl (1954) – the most important Slovak pop composer in the 1980s and 1990s, singer, musician
  • Jozef Ráž (1954) – current singer of Elán (a band having reached its height in the 1980s)
  • Dežo Ursiny (1947–1995) – composer, rock singer, musician in the 1960s and 1970s
  • Marián Varga (1947–2017) – rock composer, musician in the 1960s and 1970s
  • Miroslav Žbirka (1952) – singer, composer from the 1970s to the 1990s

Fine arts

Painters, Graphic Artists

Sculptors

Photographers

  • Dezo Hoffmann (1912–1986) – photoreporter and photographer
  • Tono Stano (1960) – photographer; his photograph Sense inspired the poster for the film Showgirls.

Architects

Film and Theatre

Actors

Filmmakers

Law

Sports

Football

Ice hockey

See the long list in a separate article.

Tennis

Water sports

Figure Skating

Modelsports

Other

Historical personalities

  • Móric Benyovszky (Móric Beňovský, Maurycy Beniowski, Baron Maurice Auguste de Benyowski, many other name versions) (1746–1786) – Hungarian globetrotter, explorer, soldier, writer, and the King of Madagascar with Hungarian and Slovak ancestry.[3]
  • Juraj Jánošík (1688–1713) – the Slovak equivalent of Robin Hood, the topic of many Slovak legends, books and films

Models

Miscellaneous

See also

References

  1. ↑ sk:Marián Lapšanský
  2. ↑ sk:Marcel Buntaj
  3. ↑ "Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky: Consisting of His Military Operations in Poland, His Exile into Kamchatka, His Escape and Voyage from that Peninsula through the Northern Pacific Ocean, Touching at Japan and Formosa, to Canton in China, with an Account of the French Settlement He Was Appointed to Form upon the Island of Madagascar". World Digital Library. 1790. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
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