List of Slovaks

Through the centuries, Slovaks have played an active role in political, military, scientific, cultural and religious affairs. Having been a part of multicultural Hungary (Latin being the official language from its inception until the 1840s) for over 1,000 years and Czechoslovakia for over 70 years, Slovaks and their contributions are often mischaracterized as simply Hungarian or Czech when a more nuanced understanding of ethnic identity is required. Just as Latinos or Asians in Canada consider themselves Canadian as well as Dominican or Chinese by virtue of nationality and ethnicity, Slovaks in Hungary would have felt the same way. This explains how Slovaks could identify with - and be active and proud citizens of - Hungary yet fight to retain their Slovak language and customs despite violent efforts by ethnic Magyars after 1848 to assimilate them culturally and linguistically.

The following is a list of notable people who either:

• are or were citizens of Slovakia or Czechoslovakia,
• are or were of Slovak identity, ancestry or ethnicity.

Politics

Politicians (contemporary)

Prime Ministers of the Slovak Republic:

• Vladimír Mečiar (1942) – First and Third Prime Minister
• Jozef Moravčík (1945) – Second Prime Minister
• Mikuláš Dzurinda (1955) – Fourth Prime Minister
• Robert Fico (1964) – Fifth and Seventh Prime Minister
• Iveta Radičová (1956) – Sixth and First Female Prime Minister

Presidents:

• Michal Kováč (1930-2016) – First President
• Rudolf Schuster (1934) – Second President (Schuster is of German and Hungarian ancestry.)
• Ivan Gašparovič (1941) – Third President (Previously Chairman of the National Council of the Slovak Republic)
• Andrej Kiska (1963) – Fourth President (Co-founder of a non-profit charitable organization called Dobrý anjel.)

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)

• Alexander Dubček (1921–1992) – Leader of Czechoslovakia and architect of the Prague Spring
• Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937) – First President of Czechoslovakia; son of a Slovak father and Moravian mother
• Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880–1919) – Astronomer, scientist, politician, and general; one of the founders of Czechoslovakia
• Gustáv Husák (1913–1991) – President of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s
• Štefan Marko Daxner (1822–1892) – Slovak lower nobleman of Swiss descent, politician, lawyer, and poet who of outlined a program unifying the requests for national (Slovak), cultural, political and social liberties
• Jozef Tiso (1887–1947) – Roman Catholic priest and President of the First Slovak Republic
• Ferdinand Čatloš (1895–1972) – Minister of Defence of the first Slovak Republic
• Andrej Hlinka (1864–1938) – Priest and founders of the Slovak People's Party
• Milan Hodža (1878–1944) – Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, politician and journalist
• Fedor Hodža (1912–1968) – Politician and lawyer; the son of Milan Hodža.
• Vojtech Tuka (1880–1946) – Slovak People's Party politician, teacher
• Alexander Mach (1902–1980) – Slovak People's Party politician, journalist
• Martin Rázus (1888–1937) – Politician, priest
• Jan Šverma (1903–1944) – Partisan and communist politician
• Karol Sidor (1901–1953) – far right Slovak nationalist politician and commander of the Hlinka Guard
• Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1817–1886) – Priest, politician
• Michal Miloslav Hodža (1811–1870) – Leader of a Slovak national group, Lutheran priest, poet, linguist
• Vladimír Clementis (1902–1952) – Communist politician

Fighters, Warriors, Soldiers and Revolutionares

• 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

• Livia Klausová – first lady of the Czech Republic
• Silvia Gašparovičová – first lady of Slovakia

Religion

Notable religious figures

• Pavol Peter Gojdič (Pavol Gojdič) (1888–1960)
• Zdenka Schelingová (1916–1955)
• Basil Hopko (1904–1976)

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

• Andrej Kmeť (1841–1908) – botanist, archaeologist
• Ján Kollár – pastor, writer, archaeologist, academic

Physics

• Dionýz Ilkovič (1907–1980) – physicist
• Stefan Janos (1943) – low temperature physicist living in Switzerland
• Ivan Wilhelm cs:Ivan Wilhelm (1942) – nuclear physicist, former rector of Charles University in Prague

Mathematics

• Lev Bukovský – mathematician
• Jur Hronec – mathematician
• Igor Kluvánek – mathematician
• Samuel Mikovíny – Hungarian mathematician, engineer and map maker
• Tibor Šalát – mathematician, author of many mathematical textbooks in Slovak language
• Peter Štefan – mathematician
• Štefan Znám – mathematician

Computer Science

• Juraj Hromkovič – Slovak computer scientist living in Switzerland

Astronomy

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

Astronomers (20th century)

• Milan Rastislav Štefánik
• Milan Antal
• Antonín Bečvář
• Ladislav Brožek
• Ľubor Kresák
• Dušan Kalmančok
• Ľudmila Pajdušáková
• Vladimír Porubčan
• Juraj Tóth

Astronauts

• Ivan Bella (1964) – the first astronaut 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.

• Alexander Albrecht (1885–1958) – composer, conductor, teacher
• Ján Levoslav Bella (1843–1936) – composer, author of the first Slovak opera "Kováč Wieland"
• Juraj Beneš (1940–2004) – composer
• Ján Cikker (1911–1989) – composer, teacher
• Ernő Dohnányi -aka Ernst von Dohnányi (July 27, 1877 – February 9, 1960) Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist.
• Viliam Figuš-Bystrý (1875–1937) – composer, teacher
• Tibor Frešo (1918–1987) – composer, conductor
• Vladimír Godár (1956) – composer
• Frico Kafenda (1883–1963) – composer, teacher, pianist, conductor
• Dezider Kardoš (1914–1991) – composer, teacher
• Ladislav Kupkovič (1936) – composer, conductor
• Peter Machajdik (1961) – composer, organizer
• Ján Móry (Johann Mory) (1892–1978) – composer
• Alexander Moyzes (1906–1984) – composer
• Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský (1881–1958) – composer
• Eugen Suchoň (1908–1993) – the most important Slovak composer, author of the first Slovak national opera "Krútňava", teacher
• Iris Szeghy (1956) – woman composer

Conductors

• Peter Breiner (1957) – conductor, composer, pianist
• Ondrej Lenárd (1942) – conductor
• Ľudovít Rajter (1906–2000) – conductor, teacher, composer
• Bystrík Režucha (1935) – conductor
• Ladislav Slovák (1919–1999) – conductor

Instrumentalists

• Peter Michalica (1945) – violinist
• Marcel Buntaj (1974) – drummer, pianist, composer^[1]

Opera Singers

• Peter Dvorský (1951) – tenor
• Edita Gruberová (1946–) – soprano
• Jozef Kundlák (1956–) – tenor
• Lucia Popp (1939–1993) – soprano
• Luba Orgonasova (1961–) – soprano

Jazz

• Peter Lipa (1943) – an important current Jazz singer, composer
• Laco Deczi (1938) – Jazz musician, trumpet player, composer
• Martin Valihora (1976) – Jazz musician, drummer

Popular Music (20th century)

• Ľubomír Burgr – musician, composer, vocalist
• Jaroslav Filip (1949–2000) – musician, composer, vocalist, actor, playwright
• Marika Gombitová (1956) – singer, composer, musician since the 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
• 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) – rock composer, musician in the 1960s and 1970s
• Miroslav Žbirka (1952) – singer, composer from the 1970s to the 1990s

Fine arts

Painters, Graphic Artists

• Janko Alexy (1894–1970) – painter
• Blažej Baláž (1958) – painter, graphic artist
• Mária Balážová (1956) – painter, graphic artist
• Miloš Alexander Bazovský (1899–1968) – painter, graphic artist
• Martin Benka (1888–1971) – painter, illustrator
• Albín Brunovský (1935–1997) – graphic artist, painter, illustrator
• Lajos Csordák (1864–1937) – painter
• Ľudovít Fulla (1902–1980) – painter, graphic artist, illustrator
• Mikuláš Galanda (1895–1938) – painter, graphic artist, illustrator
• Ian Hornak (1944–2002) – draughtsman, painter, printmaker
• Július Jakoby (1903–1985) – painter
• Ján Kupecký (Johann Kupecky) (1667–1740) – painter
• Anton Lehmden (1929) – Austrian painter; born in Slovakia
• Palo Macho (1965) – painter
• Koloman Sokol (1902–2003) – painter
• Karl Sovanka (1883–1961) – painter, sculptor
• Martin Vargic – graphic artist, illustrator
• Rudolf Rabatin (1954) – painter
• Andy Warhol
• Katarína Hládeková (1984) artist

Sculptors

• Fraňo Štefunko (1903–1974) – sculptor

Photographers

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

Architects

• Bohuslav Fuchs (1895–1972) – architect; a Czech also active in Slovakia
• Dušan Jurkovič (1868–1947) – architect

Film and Theatre

Actors

• Andrej Bagar (1900–1966) – actor, director
• Barbora Bobuľová (1974) – actress
• Milan Kňažko (1945) – actor, former Slovak Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Culture
• Jozef Kroner (1924–1998) – actor, starred in the first Czechoslovak, Czech and Slovak film awarded by Oscar: The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze, 1965)
• Juraj Kukura (1947) – well-known Slovak actor (theater, film), who has also been working in Germany.
• Barbara Nedeljáková (1979) – actress, starred in the Hollywood horror film Hostel
• Paul Newman (1925–2008) – US actor, director, entrepreneur, philanthropist, of ethnic Slovak mother
• Emília Vášáryová (1942) – actress
• Jon Voight (1938) – American actor with Slovak ancestry
• Karol L. Zachar (1918–2003) – actor, director
• Tomáš Raček (1947) – Slovak actor (theater, film, TV), who has also been working in Canada.
• Michael Stroka (1938–1997) – US TV actor.

Filmmakers

• Paľo Bielik (1910–1983) – director, actor
• Dušan Hanák (1938) – director
• Juraj Herz (1934) – Slovak director and actor born in Kežmarok
• Juraj Jakubisko (1938) – director (sometimes nicknamed Slovak Fellini)
• Ján Kadár (1918–1979) – director
• Dušan Rapoš (1953) – Slovak director
• Ivan Reitman (1946) – probably the most prominent film director and producer born in Slovakia
• Martin Šulík (1963) – director
• Pavol Barabáš (1959) – documentarist, noted for filming people living in extreme conditions

Law

• William T. Dzurilla (1953) – international attorney and law clerk to Justice Byron White of the United States Supreme Court (1982–1983).

Sports

• Ivan Bátory (1975) – cross-country skiing
• Imre Bugár (1955) – ethnic Hungarian athlete
• Karol Divín (1936) – figure-skating
• Bohumil Golián (1931) – volleyball-player
• Jozef Gönci (1974) – sport shooter
• Jozef Krnáč (1977) – judo
• Ondrej Nepela (1951–1989) – figure-skating
• Jozef Plachý (1949) – athlete
• Jozef Pribilinec (1960) – race walker, Olympic gold medalist
• Jack Quinn (1883–1946) – baseball player
• Richard Réti – Austrian-Hungarian, later Czechoslovak chess grandmaster
• Jozef Sabovčík – figure-skating
• Peter Sagan (1990) – cyclist
• Alojz Sokol (Aloisius Szokol) (1871–1932) – athlete, pioneer of the Olympic movement in historic Hungary
• Anton Tkáč (1951) – cyclist
• Yvonne Tobis (born 1948) - Israeli Olympic swimmer, born in Bratislava
• Július Torma (1922–1991) – boxer
• Elmer Valo (1921–1998) – baseball player
• Ján Zachara (1928) – boxer
• Radoslav Židek (1981) – snowboarder, first Slovak medallist from independent Slovakia at the Winter Olympics

Football

• Jozef Adamec (1942) – former footballer
• Peter Dubovský (1972–2000) – footballer
• Marek Hamšík (1987) – midfielder, currently playing for Italian side SSC Napoli
• Karol Jokl (1945–1996) – footballer
• Marek Mintál (1977) – footballer
• Ľubomír Moravčík (1965) – footballer
• Ján Popluhár (1935) – footballer
• Viliam Schrojf (1931–2007) – footballer
• Martin Škrtel (1985) – Liverpool F.C. player
• Jozef Vengloš (1936) – football manager and former footballer, managed Aston Villa, Celtic FC (Glasgow), the Czechoslovak and the Slovak national teams, current director of FIFA's Technical Study Group.
• Vladimír Weiss senior (1964) – Head coach of Slovakia national football team
• Vladimír Weiss junior (1989) – winger, considered as one of the most talented Slovak players of his generation

Ice hockey

See the long list in a separate article.

• Ľuboš Bartečko – (1976)
• Peter Bondra – (1968)
• Zdeno Cíger – (1969)
• Pavol Demitra – (1974–2011)
• Vladimír Dzurilla – (1942–1995)
• Marián Gáborík – (1982)
• Jozef Golonka – (1938)
• Jaroslav Halák – (1985)
• Michal Handzuš – (1977)
• Marcel Hossa – (1981)
• Marián Hossa – (1979)
• Zdeno Chára – (1977)
• Igor Liba – (1960)
• Vincent Lukáč – (1954)
• Stan Mikita – (1940)
• Ladislav Nagy – (1979)
• Žigmund Pálffy – (1972)
• Dárius Rusnák – (1959)
• Jozef Stümpel – (1972)
• Miroslav Šatan – (1974)
• Anton Šťastný – (1959)
• Marián Šťastný – (1953)
• Peter Šťastný – (1956)
• Róbert Švehla – (1969)
• Ladislav Troják – (1914–1948)
• Ľubomír Višňovský – (1976)

Tennis

• Karol Beck (1982)
• Dominika Cibulková (1989)
• Karina Habšudová (1973)
• Daniela Hantuchová (1983) – Slovakia's most successful female player
• Martina Hingis (1980) – Košice born, retired Swiss female tennis-player
• Dominik Hrbatý (1978)
• Martin Kližan (1989)
• Karol Kučera (1974)
• Miloslav Mečíř (1964)
• Magdaléna Rybáriková (1988)
• Marián Vajda (1965) – coach of a world top tennis-player Novak Đoković

Water sports

• Juraj Bača (1977) – speed canoeing
• Jana Dukátová (1983) – water slalom
• Peter and Pavol Hochschorner (1979) – water slalom
• Elena Kaliská (1972) – water slalom
• Slavomír Kňazovický (1967) – speed canoeing
• Michal Martikán (1979) – water slalom, Olympic gold medalist, Atlanta 1996, Beijing 2008
• Juraj Minčík (1977) – water slalom
• Martina Moravcová (1976) – swimmer
• Michal Riszdorfer (1977) – speed canoeing
• Richard Riszdorfer (1981) – speed canoeing
• Erik Vlček (1981) – speed canoeing

Figure Skating

• Karol Divín (1936)
• Ondrej Nepela (1951)
• Jozef Sabovčík (1963)

Modelsports

• Jozef Gábriš (Joseph Gabris) – born in Bratislava. Most popular and successful Control Line aerobatics pilot (F2B) of former Czechoslovakia.

Other

Historical personalities

• Master Paul of Levoča (1470 –1542) – carver and sculptor of the 15th and 16th century.
• Juraj Šucha (1500–1552) – Slovak captain of Drégely Castle and fighter against Turks.
• Juraj Turzo (1567–1616) – powerful magnate and merchant with Slovak and German ancestry.
• 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.^[2]
• Juraj Jánošík (1688–1713) – the Slovak equivalent of Robin Hood, the topic of many Slovak legends, books and films

Models

• Kamila Filipcikova – High Fashion Slovak Model
• Michaela Kocianova – Victoria's Secret Model
• Viera Schottertova – model
• Adriana Sklenaříková – model, face of "Wonderbra" adverts
• Michaela Hlaváčková

Miscellaneous

• Ľudovít Lačný (1926) – chess composer, FIDE master
• Sándor Petőfi (1823–1849) – Hungarian national poet, born to a Slovak mother
• Rudolf Vrba (1924–2006) – Auschwitz survivor, author of the Vrba-Wetzler report
• Miriam Roth (1910–2005), Israeli writer and scholar of children's books, kindergarten teacher, and educator
• Hanna Zemer (1925–2003), Israeli journalist

See also

• List of people by nationality
• List of Slovak Americans
• Slovak Americans

References

External links

• Slovak People