Posted
on February 17, 2016
If
someone's called a “Renaissance Man,” he's probably had a
lot of occupations, or he's made contributions to several
different fields.
Today's
famous birthday is a Renaissance Man: an inventor, an architect, a
painter, a biologist, and a priest. Since he helped develop wireless
telegraphy and other wireless communications, I think we could fudge
that “inventor” label towards him being a physicist and engineer,
don't you?
Jozef
Murgas was born in Tajov, which at the time was in the Kingdom of
Hungary, which in turn was part of the Austrian Empire. But Tajov is
no longer part of Hungary OR Austria; it's in Slovakia!
 |
| Slovakia is in the middle of this map and is colored a dark brown-red. |
During
his student days, Murgas was noted for his work in physics and in
art. But he was also learning theology (the study of religion), and
soon he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.
While
working as a priest, Murgas studied painting in Budapest (Hungary)
and Munich (Germany). But after eight years, Murgas emigrated to the
U.S. There he worked as a priest but started to work in
electrotechnology, publishing papers, obtaining patents, and starting
a company.
Along
with all this work on wireless communication, Murgas took care of
Slovak immigrants. He founded a community organization that took care
of children and youths. He published a newspaper. He had a new
library, cemetery, gymnasium, and several schools and playgrounds
built. He organized a charity, took political action, wrote articles,
and supported the creation of the nation of Czechoslovakia (which has
since ceased to exist).
Murgas
financed some of this cool stuff by selling paintings he painted.
He
continued to do experiments in physics, and he also collected
mushrooms, plants, minerals, and insects. His butterfly collection
included 9,000 butterflies from all over the world.
I
think the main contribution that Murgas made was to make all of the
rest of us feel like lazy slugs!
 |
| In Pennsylvania, in King's College, there is a museum exhibit of Murgas's paintings and other works. |
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