| For such a small country, Slovakia boasts a number of | | | | Wolfgang von Kempelen - inventor of the typewriter |
| great inventors who played an important role in making | | | | for the blind |
| our world a better place to live in. Here is a look at five | | | | Born in Bratislava, Kempelen worked in the service of |
| Slovak inventors and some of the inventions that | | | | Maria Theresia, the then ruler of the Habsburg Empire. |
| made them famous. | | | | A recognised genius, Kemplen's many achievements |
| Jozef Murgas - inventor of the radio | | | | include the invention of a speaking machine, in 1791, and |
| Of course, history records Marconi as the inventor of | | | | a special typewriter for the blind. |
| the radio. However, the truth is that while Marconi was | | | | However, the most famous invention he is credited |
| able to finance the necessary patents, the actual | | | | with, an automated chess player known as The Turk, |
| person behind the invention was a priest, born in Tajov, | | | | later proved to be a hoax. |
| in Slovakia, called Jozef Murgas. | | | | Jozef Maximilian Petzval - inventor of the opera glass |
| Murgas emigrated from Slovakia to Wilkes Barre, | | | | Petzval is considered by many people to be the |
| Pennsylvania, where he soon devised a system that | | | | founder of modern photography. An excellent |
| greatly improved Morse code. His | | | | mathematician, he was given the chair of Mathematics |
| "Rotary-spark-system" allowed for faster | | | | at the University of Vienna, in 1837. |
| communication, through the use of musical tones. | | | | He is mostly renowned for his work on optical lenses |
| The new invention was patented as the "Wireless | | | | in the 1840's, which proved instrumental in the |
| Telegraphy Apparatus". He also patented 16 more | | | | construction of the modern camera. Petzval is also |
| inventions in this field, which would go on to lay the | | | | remembered for greatly improving the telescope, as |
| foundations for the invention of the radio. | | | | well as inventing the opera glass. |
| Unfortunately, a lack of money as well as a number of | | | | Jan Bahyl - inventor of the petrol motor-driven |
| financial setbacks, eventually led Murgas to give the | | | | helicopter |
| younger, more prosperous Marconi, the rights to all of | | | | Born in Zvolenska Slatina in 1845, Bahyl is perhaps the |
| his patents. | | | | greatest of all Slovak inventors. During a career in the |
| Stefan Banic - inventor of the parachute | | | | army, Bahyl was able to work on a number of |
| Born in Nestic, in Slovakia, Banic emigrated to America | | | | inventions, many of which involved hydraulics. Bahyl's |
| when he was 37 and found work as a coal miner in | | | | first notable invention, which he financed with his own |
| Pennsylvania. There he witnessed a tragic accident in | | | | money, was the Steam Tank. The Russian army |
| 1912, which led Banic to build a prototype of a | | | | bought the invention, which enabled Bahyl to dedicate |
| parachute and register it with the U.S. Patent Office. | | | | his life to inventing. |
| On the 3rd June 1914, Banic demonstrated how his | | | | Among his many inventions were the tank pump, an air |
| parachute worked, by jumping from a building in | | | | balloon combined with an air turbine, the first petrol |
| Washington. He then kindly gave away his patent | | | | engine car in Slovakia and a lift up to Bratislava castle. |
| rights to the U.S. Army and although his invention | | | | However, he is probably best remembered for the |
| proved extremely important during WWI, he received | | | | construction of a petrol motor-driven helicopter, which |
| little fame or fortune. | | | | he flew himself, in 1905. |