The Martians (scientists)

Leó Szilárd circa 1960

"The Martians" (Hungarian: "A marslakók") is a term used to refer to a group of prominent Hungarian scientists (mostly, but not exclusively, physicists and mathematicians) who emigrated to the United States in the early half of the 20th century.^[1]

Leo Szilard, who jokingly suggested that Hungary was a front for aliens from Mars, used this term. In an answer to the question of why there is no evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth despite the high probability of it existing, Szilárd responded: "They are already here among us – they just call themselves Hungarians." This account is featured in György Marx's book The Voice of the Martians.

Persons frequently included in the description[]

Paul Erdős, Paul Halmos, Theodore von Kármán, John G. Kemeny, John von Neumann, George Pólya, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner are included in The Martians group.^[2]

Dennis Gabor, Ervin Bauer, Róbert Bárány, George de Hevesy, Nicholas Kurti, George Klein, Eva Klein, Michael Polanyi and Marcel Riesz are also sometimes named,^{[weasel words]} though they did not emigrate to the United States.

Loránd Eötvös, Kálmán Tihanyi, Zoltán Lajos Bay, Victor Szebehely, Albert Szent-Györgyi, Georg von Békésy, John Harsanyi and Maria Telkes are often mentioned^{[weasel words]} in connection.

Elizabeth Róna, a Hungarian nuclear chemist who emigrated to the US in 1941 to work on the Manhattan Project and discovered Uranium-Y, is a colleague, but not usually included.

Origin of the name[]

Bela Lugosi in Dracula

John von Neumann at Los Alamos

Since they all spoke English with a strong accent (made famous by horror actor Bela Lugosi), they were considered outsiders in American society. The Hungarian scientists were seemingly superhuman in intellect, spoke an incomprehensible native language, and came from a small obscure country. This led to them being called Martians, a name they jocularly adopted.

The joke was that Hungarian scientists are actually descendants of a Martian scout force which landed in Budapest around the year 1900, and later departed after the planet was found unsuitable, but leaving behind children by several Earth women, children who all became the famous scientists. John von Neumann cited as mock evidence to support this claim the close geographic proximity of the Martians' birthplaces and the well-traceable career path, which started with an interest in chemistry and led the individual in question to German universities where he moved towards physics, at which point the Martian left Europe for the US.

The original story from György Marx's book The Voice of the Martians:

The universe is vast, containing myriads of stars...likely to have planets circling around them.... The simplest living things will multiply, evolve by natural selection and become more complicated till eventually active, thinking creatures will emerge.... Yearning for fresh worlds...they should spread out all over the Galaxy. These highly exceptional and talented people could hardly overlook such a beautiful place as our Earth. – "And so," Fermi came to his overwhelming question, "if all this has been happening, they should have arrived here by now, so where are they?" – It was Leo Szilard, a man with an impish sense of humor, who supplied the perfect reply to the Fermi Paradox: "They are among us," he said, "but they call themselves Hungarians."

When the question was put to Edward Teller – who was particularly proud of his monogram, E.T. (abbreviation of extraterrestrial)^[3] – he looked worried, and said: "Von Kármán must have been talking."^[4]

According to György Marx, the extraterrestrial origin of the Hungarian scientists is proved by the fact that the names of Leó Szilárd, John von Neumann and Theodore von Kármán cannot be found on the map of Budapest, but on the Moon are craters bearing their names:^[3]

There is also a crater on Mars named after Von Kármán.

Central European scientists who emigrated to the United States[]

George Olah holding a lecture in the Ceremonial Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with the title "New Opportunity in Energy Policy: Symbiosis of Economic Policy and Methanol Economy – Opportunities in Hungary"

During and after World War II many Central European scientists immigrated to the United States, mostly Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazism or Communism.^[5] Several were from Budapest, and were instrumental in American scientific progress (e.g., developing the atomic bomb).

But in June 1948, I had to resign from the Institute because the political situation no longer permitted them to employ an outspoken anti-Marxist as I had been. Yet Anne [Harsanyi's later wife] did go on with her studies. But she was continually harassed by her Communist classmates to break up with me because of my political views, but she did not. This made her realize, before I did, that Hungary was becoming a completely Stalinist country, and that the only sensible course of action for us was to leave Hungary.
— John Harsanyi^[5]

In October 1956, Hungary rebelled against Soviet rule, but the uprising was soon overwhelmed by drastic means and the killing of many innocent citizens. Budapest was demolished again and the future seemed cloudy. In November and December 1956, about 200,000 Hungarians, mainly young people, fled the country. With my family and with most of my group, we have also decided to go on this journey and look for a new life in the West.
— George Olah^[6]

List of "The Martians"[]

Eugene Wigner

According to György Marx, "The Martians" are as follows:^[3]


Name	Hungarian name	Birth year	Death year	High school	Alma mater	Field
Franz Alexander	Alexander Ferenc	1891	1964		University of Göttingen	Medicine Psychology
Paul Erdős	Erdős Pál	1913	1996	Szent István Gimnázium (Budapest)	University of Budapest	Mathematics
Peter Carl Goldmark	Goldmark Péter Károly	1906	1977		Technical University of Vienna Technical University of Berlin	Physics
Paul Halmos	Halmos Pál	1916	2006		University of Illinois	Mathematics
John Harsanyi	Harsányi János	1920	2000	Fasori Gimnázium	University of Lyon University of Budapest University of Sydney Stanford University	Economics
Theodore von Kármán	Kármán Tódor	1881	1963	Trefort	Budapest Technical University	Mathematics Physics
John G. Kemeny	Kemény János	1926	1992	Berzsenyi	Princeton University	Mathematics
Cornelius Lanczos	Lánczos Kornél	1893	1974	Ciszterci Szent István Gimnázium	University of Budapest University of Szeged	Mathematics Physics
Peter Lax	Lax Péter	1926			New York University	Mathematics
John von Neumann	Neumann János	1903	1957	Fasori Gimnázium	University of Budapest	Mathematics Physics Economics Computer science
George Olah	Oláh György	1927	2017	Piarista Gimnazium	Budapest Technical University	Chemistry
Egon Orowan	Orován Egon	1902	1989	Leövey Klára Gimnázium	University of Vienna Technical University of Berlin	Physics
John Polanyi	Polányi János	1929		Trefort	University of Manchester	Chemistry
George Pólya	Pólya György	1887	1985	Berzsenyi	University of Budapest	Mathematics
Leo Szilard	Szilárd Leó	1898	1964		Budapest Technical University	Physics Biology
Valentine Telegdi	Telegdi Bálint	1922	2006		University of Lausanne ETH Zurich	Physics
Edward Teller	Teller Ede	1908	2003	Fasori Gimnázium Trefort	University of Karlsruhe University of Leipzig	Physics
Eugene Wigner	Wigner Jenő	1902	1995	Fasori Gimnázium	Technical University of Berlin	Physics

References[]

^ M. Whitman (2012) The Martian's Daughter: A Memoir, University of Michigan Press.
^ "Quiénes eran los "marcianos" húngaros que ayudaron a Estados Unidos a convertirse en una potencia científica". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-10.
^ ^a ^b ^c A marslakók legendája – György Marx
^ Macrae, Norman (1992). John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More. Pantheon Press. p. 33. ISBN 0-679-41308-1.
^ ^a ^b "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1994". NobelPrize.org.
^ "Oláh György". www.kfki.hu.