Famous People

                                         

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.

Ľudovít Velislav Štúr

 Ľudovít Velislav Štúr (1815 – 1856) 
known in his era as Ludevít Štúr, was the leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century, and the author of the Slovak language standard, eventually leading to the contemporary Slovak literary language. Štúr was an organizer of the Slovak volunteer campaigns during the 1848 Revolution. He was also a politician, poet, journalist, publisher, teacher, philosopher, linguist and member of the Hungarian Parliament.

Štefan Moyzes

PhDr. Štefan Moyses  (1797 – 1869) was a Slovak bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Banská Bystrica teacher, patriot, co-founder and first chairman of Maticá Slovenská.

Štefan Moyses became a priest in 1821. At the begining he served as chaplain in several parishes of the archdiocese of Esztergom, later worked in Croatia. In January 1830 he became a professor of Zagreb Academy. In 1847 he was appointed a canon of Zagreb chapter and was elected as a member of Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was supporter of Ľudovít Štúr proposals put forward by the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1848, the re-introduction of mother tongue in primary education and in worship. In 1850 he was appointed bishop of Banská Bystrica. He was the head of the Slovak delegation that came on December 12, 1861 to the Emperor Franz Joseph I and submitted Memorandum národa slovenského (Memorandum of the Slovak nation) and Prosbopis Slovákov.

Ivan Bella

Ivan Bella  25 May 1964 in Brezno, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) is a Slovak Air Force officer who became the first Slovak citizen to fly in space. He participated in an eight-day joint Russian-French-Slovak mission to the Mir space station in 1999.

  In 1998 Bella  successfully completed his training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. 

Bella launched along with mission commander Viktor Afansyev  and flight engineerJean-Pierre HAigneré on the Soyuz TM-29  mission on 20 February 1999. TM-29 arrived at Mir on 22 February. While being on board of the station Bella performed  on various scientific experiments as well as experiments involving the possibility of survival of Japanese quails  during long flights. Bella spent just over a week in space and returned to earth on 28 February aboardSoyuz TM-28 along with fellow crew member Gennady Padalka.

Eugen Suchoň

Eugen Suchoň (1908 - 1993) was one of the most important Slovak composer, teacher and theorist of the 20th century. During his career he wrote many compositions included: symphonic, chamber, orchestral, vocal and choral works. Remarkable are his two operas: historic one Kraľ Svätopluk ( King Svätopluk) and his masterpiece Krutňava ( The Whirlpool). The success of Krútňava established modern Slovak opera. He was a big Slovak patriot and all his career he dedicated to Slovak folk music and we can hear many Slovak national melodies in his works.

Peter Dvorský  

Peter Dvorský, born 1951 is the Slovak opera singer (tenor), gained a nickname as Pavarotti from Slovakia. He studied at the Conservatory and during his study he showed an extraodinary talent as an opera singer. Since 1977, he has performed on many international opera stages (at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala, London's Covent Garden, the Opera Theater in Florence). In 1977 he performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York playing the role of Alfréda Germonta in La Traviata. Then he sang the part of  Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme at La Scala, then the Verona Arena, Munich (1984) and the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1987).For portrayal of Andrew in Suchoň opera The Whirlpool he received the prize of the Minister of Culture in 1999. In 80s he was officially included in the quartet of the best tenors of the world (next to P. Domingo, L. Pavarotti and Carreras J) In 2010 Dvorsky became a director of the Slovak National Opera.