ERNŐ RUBIK (1944-)
The best-selling toy of all time was basically invented by accident, as its namesake creator was simply trying to make a teaching tool, but dreamed up a perennially popular (and profitable) puzzle instead. Ernő Rubik – who was born in Budapest and has lived in Hungary throughout his entire life – started out as a sculpture student before attending the Budapest University of Technology and becoming an architecture professor at the Budapest College of Applied Arts in 1971. While “searching to find a good task for my students”, Rubik built a three-dimensional puzzle made of wooden blocks and rubber bands to demonstrate how a structure could be built with moving pieces and yet not fall apart. His students were so fascinated by this playfully challenging model that Rubik realized it might hold wider appeal, and so he applied for a patent and set out to find a manufacturer, but his entrepreneurial efforts were stymied by Hungary’s communist-controlled economy. With great persistence, Rubikmanaged to get his “Magic Cube” produced by a small plastics company, and in 1979 he licensed it to a US toy company, which changed the name to “Rubik’s Cube” – an immediate global sensation, with over 350 million of them made since then. Rubik utilized his success to help young engineers and industrial designers with his International Rubik Foundation.