The Martians (scientists)


"The Martians" was a term used to refer to a group of prominent Hungarian scientists who emigrated to the United States in the early half of the 20th century.
Leó Szilárd, 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.
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 this group.
Dennis Gabor, Ervin Bauer, Róbert Bárány, George de Hevesy, Nicholas Kurti, George Klein, Eva Klein, Michael Polanyi and Marcel Riesz are also sometimes named, though they did not emigrate to the United States.
Loránd Eötvös, Kálmán Tihanyi, Zoltán Lajos Bay, Victor Szebehely, Albert Szent-Györgyi, Georg von Békésy and Maria Telkes are often mentioned 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 not often included.

Origin of the name

Since they all spoke English with a strong accent, 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 used a number of facts as mock evidence to support this claim, such as the close geographic proximity of the Martians' birthplaces; the well-traceable career path, which started with an interest in chemistry, 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:
When the question was put to Edward Teller who was particularly proud of his monogram, E.T. he looked worried, and said: "Von Karman must have been talking."
According to György Marx, the extraterrestrial origin of the Hungarian scientists is proved by the fact that the names of Leo 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:
There is also a crater on Mars named after Von Kármán.

Central European scientists who emigrated to the United States

During and after World War II many Central European scientists immigrated to the United States, mostly Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazism or Communism. Several were from Budapest, and were instrumental in American scientific progress.

List of 'The Martians' according to [György Marx]

Name'Martian' nameBirth yearDeath yearHigh schoolAlma materField
Franz AlexanderAlexander Ferenc18911964University of GöttingenMedicine
Psychology
Paul ErdősErdős Pál19131996Szent István Gimnázium University of BudapestMathematics
Peter Carl GoldmarkGoldmark Péter Károly19061977Technical University of Vienna
Technical University of Berlin		Physics
Paul HalmosHalmos Pál19162006University of IllinoisMathematics
John HarsanyiHarsányi János19202000Fasori GimnáziumUniversity of Lyon
University of Budapest
University of Sydney
Stanford University		Economics
Theodore von KármánKármán Tódor18811963TrefortBudapest Technical UniversityMathematics
Physics
John G. KemenyKemény János19261992BerzsenyiPrinceton UniversityMathematics
Cornelius LanczosLánczos Kornél18931974Ciszterci Szent István GimnáziumUniversity of Budapest
University of Szeged		Mathematics
Physics
Peter LaxLax Péter1926New York UniversityMathematics
John von NeumannNeumann János19031957Fasori GimnáziumUniversity of BudapestMathematics
Physics
Economics
Computer science
George OlahOláh György19272017Piarista GimnaziumBudapest Technical UniversityChemistry
Egon OrowanOrován Egon19021989Leövey Klára GimnáziumUniversity of Vienna
Technical University of Berlin		Physics
John PolanyiPolányi János1929TrefortUniversity of ManchesterChemistry
George PólyaPólya György18871985BerzsenyiUniversity of BudapestMathematics
Leo SzilardSzilárd Leó18981964Budapest Technical UniversityPhysics
Biology
Valentine TelegdiTelegdi Bálint19222006University of Lausanne
ETH Zurich		Physics
Edward TellerTeller Ede19082003Fasori Gimnázium
Trefort		University of Karlsruhe
University of Leipzig		Physics
Eugene WignerWigner Jenő19021995Fasori GimnáziumTechnical University of BerlinPhysics