Brilliance in Exile : : The Diaspora of Hungarian Scientists from John von Neumann to Katalin Karikó / / Balazs Hargittai, István Hargittai.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2023
• VerfasserIn: Hargittai, István,; Hargittai, Balazs,
• MitwirkendeR: Berend, Ivan T.,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (342 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Preface -- Joseph A. Galamb -- Philipp Lenard -- Part 1 Early 1920s -- Introduction: Fleeing -- Ervin Bauer -- Stephen Brunauer -- Ladislaus Farkas -- Dennis Gabor -- George de Hevesy -- Theodore von Kármán -- Arthur Koestler -- Stephen W. Kuffler -- Nicholas Kurti -- Cornelius Lanczos -- John von Neumann -- Egon Orowan -- Michael Polanyi -- George Pólya -- Elizabeth Rona -- Leo Szilard -- Maria Telkes -- Edward Teller -- Eugene P. Wigner -- “Control” —Imre Bródy -- Part 2 Late 1930s–early 1940s -- Introduction: Before It Is Too Late -- Michael and Alice Balint -- Ladislao José Biro -- Paul Erdos -- John G. Kemeny -- Olga Kennard -- Peter D. Lax -- George J. Popjak -- Valentine L. Telegdi -- Laszlo Tisza -- Part 3 Immediate Post-World War II -- Introduction: Post-War and Pre-Soviet Trauma -- Endre A. Balazs -- Zoltan Bay -- Georg von Békésy -- Lars Ernster -- John C. Harsanyi -- Avram Hershko -- Georg Klein and Eva Klein -- Albert Szent-Györgyi -- Part 4 1956 -- Introduction: In the Wake of Suppressed Revolution -- Laszlo Z. Bito -- Andy Grove -- Peter Lengyel -- Joseph Nagyvary -- George A. Olah -- Gabor A. Somorjai -- Part 5 1957–1989 -- Introduction: Escape from “Paradise” -- Gyorgy Buzsaki -- Gabor Fodor -- Katalin Karikó -- Charles Simonyi -- Agnes Ullmann -- “Control”—Árpád Furka -- Conclusion -- Thirty Years Later, and Continuing -- Acknowledgments -- Select Bibliography -- The Authors -- Also by the Authors -- Index of Names