Hungary

HUNGARY



Geography: Officially called the Hungarian Republic, Hungary is a landlocked country, situated in Central Europe and surrounded by 7 other countries. It is divided into 19 counties and is about 5 times smaller than France with a total area of 93,030 km². Its capital is the largest city, which is Budapest. The land is populated of 10,086,000 Hungarians. The official language is Hungarian.

Government: Parliamentary democracy, since 1989, Hungary is part of the European Union since 2004. Although, it hasn’t changed its currency which is the “Hungarian Forint”. Hungary is a well developed country with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.816.

Culture: Hungary is a very touristic land: in fact in year there are more tourists than the total population!! The capital is the ninth most visited city in Europe. Goulash (soup made with noodles, meat and vegetables), Dobos cake and Tokaji wine are specialties of Hungarian cuisine

Interesting Facts: Famous inventions like the Rubik's cube, ballpoint pen and holography were invented by Hungarians. The House of Terror is a museum in Budapest which is a memorial of victims due to the dictatorial regimes.

Hungary is also famous for its world known mathematicians as John von Neumann.

John von Neumann (1903-1957) was a child prodigy: at the age of 6, he could divide two 8-digit numbers in his head; at the age of 15, he began to study advanced calculus; he got his PhD in mathematics when he was 22 year old, with minor doctorates in chemistry and physics. Basically he was a math professor, a chemist, a computer engineer, a physicist...etc.  He was appreciated by other scientists of his time: “The last of the great mathematicians"; “I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man “.

Quantum mechanics

His works: John von Neumann was the first to propose a formula for the quantum mechanics: it is the study of the motion of subatomic particles. He founded the Game theory as a new mathematical discipline, used in politics, economics. It consists in minimizing (reducing) the maximum number of losses. He is also considered as the Father of the modern computer used nowadays: He invented the MANIAC, which is replaced today by the chip.

Facts: He won the Enrico Firmo Award in 1956 and the  Bôcher Memorial Prize in 1938; the crater von Neumann was named after him. 

Quote: There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about. -John von Neumann

ADY Canimozhi