Made in Hungary

Előszó

Carburetor, helicopter, stereo radio, television, electric transformer, dy-namo, holography, ball point pen, telephone exchange, krypton light bulb, automatic exposure, binary code, vitamin C, neutron bomb, Rubik's cube, jet propulsion, torpedo, contact lens, water turbine: they all have one thing in common. Ali of them are Hungárián inventions. Quite impressive for a nation that numbers less than 15 millión, about the population of Florida. Of these, only about two-thirds live in present day Hungary, the others are in neighboring countries, or virtually all over the globe. Not only are they immediately recognized by their exu-berant music—Liszt, Lehár and Bartók comes to mind—but by their scientific attainments. Hungárián scientists have won eleven Nobel Prizes in the twentieth century. This small nation is quite competitive in the world of sports also. On the average, Hungary's athletes were among the first eight in winning medals in Olympic Games, competing against the world. But not only in science, technology and sports, Hungarians also excel in arts. Men and women with somé claim to Hungárián ances-try were nominated for Oscars 136 times between 1929 and 1996, or an average of two nominees each year. They won the golden statuettes on thirty occasions. Who are these Hungarians—or Magyars, in their own language—and why are they so successful? This is an attempt to explain.
Although they live in the very center of Europe for over 1100 years, eth-nically Hungarians differ from their neighbors. Neither Slav, nor Latin or Teutonic, Hungarians speak a language that is linguistically closer to Japanese than to any European language except perhaps Finnish and Es-tonian. Although today a small country, Hungary was an established Christian kingdom generations before the Norman Conquest. From the year 1,000 AD until 1945 this kingdom was in continuous existence. The country's history is marked by three catastrophic events: the Mongol Onslaught in 1241, the Battle of Mohács, dawning the Turkish occupa-tion in 1526 and the Treaty of Trianon, the breakup of historic Hungary Vissza