This is a list of Hungarians notable within Hungary and/or abroad. It includes notable Hungarians born outside present-day Hungary.
Architects
Artists
Gyula Aggházy Károly Antal Franz Liszt Miklós Borsos Sándor Bortnyik Francois Colos Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka Gyula Czimra Gyula Donáth Orshi Drozdik János Fadrusz Béni Ferenczy István Ferenczy Arpad Feszty Simon Hantaï János Horvay László Hudec Miklós Izsó Zoltán Joó Ede Kallós André Kertész , architect and critic Susan Kozma-Orlay, designer in Australia Tamás Király, avant-garde fashion designer Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stróbl Márta Lacza Paul László Philip de László Miklós Ligeti Imre Makovecz János Major Zsuzsa Máthé David Merlini László Moholy-Nagy István Orosz János Pásztor József Róna Albert Schickedanz Henriett Seth-F. Amrita Sher-Gil Pal Szinyei Merse László Szlávics, Jr. Adam Szentpétery Mór Than János Tornyai Lajos Vajda Victor Vasarely János Vaszary Nándor Wagner
Aviators World War I aviators
World War II aviators
Business professionals Lea Gottlieb (1918–2012), Israeli fashion designer and founder of Gottex Andrew Grove, pioneer in the semiconductor industry; a chairman and CEO of Intel Éva Hegedüs (1957–), Chairman-CEO and majority shareholder of Gránit Bank Radovan Jelašić, governor of the National Bank of Serbia Sándor Kenyeres (1949–), international business magnate, and scientific philanthropist Peter Munk, Canadian-Hungarian entrepreneur, founder of Barrick Gold, and philanthropist Tibor Rosenbaum, businessman George Soros, Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher and philanthropist
Composers and performers
Bálint Bakfark, composer Kristóf Baráti, violinist Béla Bartók, composer and pianist János Bihari, violinist Gergely Bogányi, pianist Attila Csihar, vocalist György Cziffra, pianist and composer Ernő Dohnányi (Ernst von Dohnanyi), composer, pianist and conductor Antal Doráti, conductor Péter Eötvös, composer and conductor Ferenc Erkel, composer László Fassang, organist and pianist Iván Fischer, conductor and composer Peter Frankl, pianist Endre Granat, violinist Zoltán Jeney, composer Joseph Joachim, violinist Pál Kadosa, composer Zoltán Kocsis, pianist and conductor Zoltán Kodály, composer Rezső Kókai, composer György Kurtág, composer Franz Lehár, composer György Ligeti, composer Franz Liszt, composer and pianist Éva Marton, soprano Ilona Náday, singer János Négyesy, violinist Ervin Nyiregyházi, pianist Eugene Ormandy, conductor Veronika Harcsa, vocalist György Pauk, violinist László Polgár, bass Fritz Reiner, conductor Eduard Reményi, violinist Rezső Seress, composer and pianist Georg Solti, conductor Gábor Szabó, guitarist Georg Szell, conductor Júlia Várady, soprano Ibolya Verebics, soprano László Vidovszky, composer Andras Schiff, pianist
Film artists
Cicciolina Michael Curtiz Attila Dargay Eva Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor John Garfield Mariska Hargitay Martin Helstáb Harry Houdini Miklós Jancsó Gyula Kabos Lajos Koltai Róbert Koltai Sir Alexander Korda László Kovács Peter Lorre Jon Lovitz (of Hungarian descent) Béla Lugosi Paul Lukas Károly Makk László Nemes George Pal Gabriel Pascal Gábor Reviczky Ferenc Rofusz István Szabó Béla Tarr Andrew G. Vajna Johnny Weissmuller Vilmos Zsigmond
History and politics
Péter Magyar (born 1981), current Prime Minister of Hungary (2026-present) László Almásy (1895–1951), desert explorer, author, the inspiration for the fictionalised character of Almásy in Michael Ondaatje's 1992 novel The English Patient Gyula Andrássy (1823–1890), statesman József Antall (1932–1993), Prime Minister of Hungary (1990–1993) Albert Apponyi (1846–1933), statesman Gordon Bajnai (born 1968), former Prime Minister of Hungary (2009–2010) Tamás Bakócz (1442–1521), archbishop, cardinal and statesman Gábor Baross (1848–1892), statesman Erzsébet Báthory (1560–1614), countess István Báthory (1477–1534), Governor of Transylvania István (Stephen) Báthory (1533–1586), Prince of Transylvania and King of Poland Zsigmond Báthory (1572–1613), Prince of Transylvania Vilma Beck (1810–1851), writer and freedom fighter Ödön Beöthy (1796–1854), Hungarian deputy and orator Béla Bugár (born 1958), politician Krisztina Csáky (1654–1723), Hungarian countess, resistance fighter Pál Csáky (born 1956), politician Aurél Dessewffy (1808–1842), journalist and politician Péter Doszpot (born 1962), former member of parliament Ignaz Aurelius Fessler (1756–1839), court councillor and minister to Alexander I of Russia Catharina Anna Grandon de Hochepied (1767–1803), noble and amateur actress András Hadik (1710–1790), count Theodor Herzl (Tivadar Herzl, 1860–1904), journalist, modern Zionism Miklós Horthy (1868–1957), admiral and regent (1920–1944) Stephen I of Hungary (Stephen I, Szent István, Stephanus Rex, I. István) (975–1038) first King of Hungary Friar Julian János Kádár (1912–1989), communist leader Charles I of Hungary (Károly Róbert) (1288–1342), King of Hungary (1308–1342) Mihály Károlyi (1875–1955), first President of Hungary (1919) Lajos Kossuth (1802–1894), Hungarian politician later Regent-President of Hungary Teddy Kollek (born Tivadar Kollek, 1911–2007), Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Béla Kun (1886–1938), minister, revolutionist (1919) Louis I of Hungary (Louis I, Nagy Lajos, 1326–1382), king of Hungary (1342–1382) Tom Lantos (1928–2008), former U.S. Congressman from California Géza Malasits (1874–1948), deputy in parliament József Mindszenty (1892–1975), cardinal, imprisoned by communist government Imre Nagy (1896–1958), prime minister in 1953 and 1956 Viktor Orbán (born 1963), former Prime Minister of Hungary (1998–2002, 2010–2026) Ágnes Osztolykán (born 1974), Hungarian politician and Romani activist Mátyás Rákosi (1892–1971), communist leader George Soros (György Soros, born 1930), stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist Ferenc Szálasi (1897–1946), head of Arrow Cross Party, Head of State, Prime Minister of Hungary (1944–1945) László Szalay (1813–1864), statesman and historian Count Széchenyi István (1791–1860) Istvan Tisza (1861–1918), Prime Minister of Hungary (1903–1905; 1913–1917) Toma András (Tamás András), Hungarian World War II prisoner found in Russian mental hospital and returned after 55 years László Tőkés (born 1952), Reformed Church pastor and an instigator of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 Countess Anna Wesselényi (1584–1649), countess and writer Count Zrínyi Miklós (1508–1566), Hungarian general who held Szigetvár against the Ottoman Turks Count Zrínyi Miklós (1620–1664), Hungarian general, statesman and poet János Zsámboky, humanist
Inventors
Ferenc Anisits, inventor of the BMW diesel engine (1983) Oszkár Asbóth, inventor of the helicopter (1928) Donát Bánki, inventor of the cross-flow turbine Béla Barényi, inventor in the field of automobile safety László Bíró, inventor of the ballpoint pen (1931) Ottó Bláthy, inventor of the voltage regulator, co-inventor (with Miksa Déri and Károly Zipernowsky) of the transformer János Csonka, inventor of the carburetor Miksa Déri, co-inventor (with Ottó Bláthy and Károly Zipernowsky) of the transformer Dénes Gábor, inventor of holography (1947) József Galamb, creator of the Ford Model T (1908) Csaba Horváth, inventor of high-performance liquid chromatography János Irinyi, inventor of the noiseless match (1836) Ányos Jedlik, co-inventor of the dynamo (1861) and soda water (1826) Rudolf E. Kálmán, co-inventor of the Kalman filter Kálmán Kandó, pioneer in the development of railway electric traction Dénes Mihály, inventor in the field of television technology Joseph Petzval, mathematician, inventor, and physicist. Tivadar Puskás, inventor of the telephone exchange Ernő Rubik, inventor of the Rubik's Cube (1976) Kálmán Tihanyi, inventor of cathode-ray tubes, inventor of the first manless aircraft in Great Britain Károly Zipernowsky, co-inventor (with Ottó Bláthy and Miksa Déri) of the transformer
Religion
Scientists
Antal K. Bejczy (January 16, 1930 – June 25, 2015),a Hungarian scientist and a national of the United States known for his contributions to robotics. Avram Hershko (born 1937 as Herskó Ferenc), Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist and Nobel laureate in Chemistry (2004)Datebase (undated). "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004 – Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Irwin Rose". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 7 October 2012. András Arató, electrical engineer known for the Hide the Pain Harold meme Erzsébet Bajári (1912–1963) György Bálint (originally surname Braun; 1919–2020), Hungarian horticulturist, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, journalist, author, and politician who served as an MP. Robert Bárány Zoltán Bay George von Békésy Nobel Prize Gergely Berzeviczy Farkas Bolyai János Bolyai Imre Bródy George de Hevesy Loránd Eötvös Paul Erdős Madeleine Barnothy Forro Dennis Gabor Lili Hajdú Gimesné Zoltan Hajos Máté Hidvégi Johann Baptiste Horvath Vilma Hugonnai János Kornai Géza Krepuska, ear, nose, and throat specialist Cornelius Lanczos George Andrew Olah Rózsa Péter Thomas Sebeok Pál Selényi Ignaz Semmelweis, physician and pioneer of antiseptic procedures Charles Simonyi (Karoly) Michael Somogyi Victor Szebehely Kinga Székely Albert Szent-Györgyi, discovered vitamin C (1932) Leó Szilárd Éva Tauszk Valentine Telegdi Mária Telkes Edward Teller Imre Trencsényi-Waldapfel Franz Nopcsa von Felso-Szilvas Georg von Békésy Theodore von Kármán John von Neumann Elizabeth Rona (1890–1981), nuclear chemist József Szabó de Szentmiklós Eugene Wigner Richard Adolf Zsigmondy
Sports
Robert Antal (1921–1995), Olympic champion water polo player Péter Bakonyi (born 1938), saber fencer, twice Olympic bronze Gedeon Barcza (1911–1986), chess player Viktor Barna (born Győző Braun) (1911–1972), 22-time world champion table tennis player, International Table Tennis Foundation Hall of Fame István Barta (1895–1948), water polo goalkeeper, Olympic champion at the 1932 Summer Olympics, silver at the 1928 Summer Olympics Zsolt Baumgartner (born 1981), Formula One racecar driver (2003–2004), Jordan-Ford (two races, subbing for injured Ralph Firman) (2003), Minardi-Cosworth (2004), all 18 Grand Prix, 1 point (United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Indiana) Laszlo Bellak (1911–2006), seven-time world champion table tennis player, ITTFHoF Tibor Benedek (1972-2020), water polo player, Olympic champion: 2000 Summer Olympics (Sydney), 2004 Summer Olympics (Athens), 2008 Summer Olympics (Beijing) Pál Benkő (1928–2019), chess player Gyula Bíró (1890–1961), midfield and forward footballer (national team) László Bita (born 1967), footballer Balázs Borbély (born 1979), footballer József Braun (also known as József Barna; 1901–1943), Olympic footballer Gyula Breyer (1894–1921), chess player György Bródy (1908–1967), water polo goalkeeper, two-time Olympic champion Ákos Buzsáky (born 1982), football player Ibolya Csák, winner of women's high jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics Zoltán Czibor (1929–1997), soccer player Tamás Darnyi, swimmer (four Olympic gold medals) Krisztina Egerszegi, swimmer (five Olympic gold medals) Ilona Elek (née "Schacherer"; 1907–1988), foil fencer (Olympic gold-medal winner, and world champion, both before and after World War II) Árpád Élő, (1903–1992), Hungarian-born American creator of the chess Elo rating system Zsolt Erdei, boxer, WBO light heavyweight world champion Sándor Erdős (born 1947), épée fencer, Olympic champion Dr. Dezső Földes (1880–1950), saber fencer, two-time Olympic champion Samu Fóti, Olympic silver (gymnastics team combined exercises) Dr. Jenő Fuchs (1882–1955), saber fencer, four-time Olympic champion Tamás Gábor (1932–2007), épée fencer, Olympic champion János Garay (1889–1945), saber fencer, Olympic champion, silver, bronze, killed in the Holocaust György Gedó (born 1949), Olympic champion light flyweight boxer Sándor Gellér (1925–1996), soccer goalkeeper, Olympic champion Imre Gellért, Olympic silver-medal winner (gymnastics team combined exercises)