Brilliance in Exile: The Diaspora of Hungarian Scientists from John Von Neumann to Katalin Kariko

Brilliance in Exile explores the reasons why Hungarian scientists excelled in exile, combining scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of unique individuals. The appeal of an open society with inclusivity, tolerance, and better working and living conditions drove five waves of emigration from the early twentieth century to the present. The book highlights the distinctive features of Hungarian scientist emigration, including the high number of Nobel Prizes, multicultural tolerance, a rapidly emerging Jewish middle class, and an effective secondary school system.

Format: Hardback
Length: 342 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2023
Publisher: Central European University Press

By addressing the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of uncommon personalities. István and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that led to five different waves of emigration of scientists from the early twentieth century to the present. Although these exodes were driven by a broad variety of personal motivations, the attraction of an open society with inclusiveness, tolerance, and – needless to say – better circumstances for working and living, was the chief force drawing them abroad.

While emigration from East to West is a general phenomenon, this book explains why and how the emigration of Hungarian scientists is distinctive. The high number of Nobel Prizes among this group is only one indicator. Multicultural tolerance, a quickly emerging, considerably Jewish, urban middle class, and a very effective secondary school system were positive legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Multiple generations, shaped by these conditions, suffered from the increasingly exclusionist, intolerant, antisemitic, and economically stagnating environment, and chose to go elsewhere. “I would rather have roots than wings, but if I cannot have roots, I shall use wings," explained Leo Szilard, one of the fathers of the Atom Bomb.

Weight: 652g
Dimension: 159 x 237 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789633866252