Famous Slovaks

Jozef Murgaš

     Jozef Murgaš (1864 – 1929) – a Slovak inventor, architect, botanist, painter, and Roman Catholic priest. He contributed to wireless telegraphy and helped to develop mobile communication and wireless transmission of information and human voice.
He studied theology in Bratislava and Banská Bystrica then he was accepted at a painting school in Budapest. He also studied painting in Munich while working as a curate. We can find his works in Lopej - a large sacral picture of St. George, the central altar painting of St. Elisabeth, in the 14th century Church of St. Elizabeth in the main square of Banská Bystrica. From 1896 he had to immigrate to the USA where he started to deal with electro technology and took care of Slovak immigrants. Murgaš there continued with study physics and did many experiments. He financed his activities by selling his paintings. He was nominated as a member of the Federal Radio Commission of the United States in 1925.