The Slovak people are an ethnic group predominantly residing in the modern-day nation of Slovakia and its surrounding areas. Slovaks have played an active role in European history, including politically, militarily, scientifically, culturally, and religiously. Ethnic Slovaks have inhabited Central Europe since the Middle Ages. Slovaks were minority citizens of Hungary, and subsequently Austria-Hungary, from the 7th Century until the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 by the Treaty of Versailles. After Slovak calls for greater autonomy dissolved the Czechoslovak parliament, the Slovak Republic was formed in 1993. The major language among Slovaks is Slovak.
The page lists people who are citizens of Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, or are of Slovak identity, ancestry or ethnicity.
Politics
Politicians (contemporary)
Presidents:
Prime Ministers of the Slovak Republic:
Speakers of National Council of the Slovak Republic:
Other:
Politicians (19th and 20th century)
- Alexander DubÃÂek (1921âÂÂ1992) â First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and architect of the Prague Spring; after the Velvet Revolution, Chairman of Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia
- TomáÃ
¡ Garrigue Masaryk (1850âÂÂ1937) â First President of Czechoslovakia; son of a Slovak father and a Moravian mother
- Milan Rastislav Ã
 tefánik (1880âÂÂ1919) â Astronomer, scientist, politician, and general; one of the founders of Czechoslovakia
- Gustáv Husák (1913âÂÂ1991) â First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and President of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s
- Ã
 tefan Marko Daxner (1822âÂÂ1892) â Slovak lower nobleman of Swiss descent, politician, lawyer, and poet who of outlined a program unifying the requests for national (Slovak), cultural, political and social liberties
- Andrej Hlinka (1864âÂÂ1938) â Priest and founders of the Slovak People's Party
- Milan HodÃ
¾a (1878âÂÂ1944) â Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, politician and journalist
- Fedor HodÃ
¾a (1912âÂÂ1968) â Politician and lawyer; the son of Milan HodÃ
¾a.
- Vojtech Tuka (1880âÂÂ1946) â Slovak People's Party politician, teacher
- Alexander Mach (1902âÂÂ1980) â Slovak People's Party politician, journalist
- Martin Rázus (1888âÂÂ1937) â Politician, priest
- Vavro Ã
 robár (1867-1950) â Slovak doctor and politician who was a major figure in Slovak politics in the interwar period.
- Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1817âÂÂ1886) â priest, politician and Speaker of Slovak National Council
- Michal Miloslav HodÃ
¾a (1811âÂÂ1870) â one of the leaders of a Slovak national movement and member of Slovak National Council, Lutheran priest, poet, linguist
- VladimÃÂr Clementis (1902âÂÂ1952) â Communist politician
- ýudovÃÂt Ã
 túr (1815âÂÂ1856) â the leader of Slovak national movement, the creator of standard Slovak, politician, poet, journalist, publisher, teacher, philosopher and member of the Hungarian Parliament
Fighters, warriors, soldiers and revolutionaries
- Jozef GabÃÂÃÂk (1912âÂÂ1942) â soldier who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, architect of the Holocaust, under Operation Anthropoid.
- Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1817âÂÂ1886) â freedom fighter and leader of the 1848 Slovak National Uprising against the Hungarians.
- Rudolf Viest (1890âÂÂ1945?) â Anti-Fascist military leader, member of the Czechoslovak government in exile, member of the Slovak National Council and the commander of the 1st Czechoslovak army during the Slovak National Uprising. First and only Slovak to reach the position of General in the interwar Czechoslovak Army.
- Ján Golian (1906âÂÂ1945?) â Supreme Military Leader of the Slovak National Uprising against the Nazis. Golian was murdered by the Nazis in a concentration camp.
- Michael Strank â U.S. Marine during World War II; the leader of the group of U.S. marines who photographed in Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
- AugustÃÂn Malár (1894âÂÂ1946) â WWII General who commanded the East Slovak units of the First Slovak Republic, a Nazi protectorate state. Died in a concentration camp.
- Jozef Turanec (1892âÂÂ1957) â Slovak General and Nazi sympathizer during World War II.
- Matej Kocak (1882âÂÂ1918) â United States Marine Corps sergeant during World War I, posthumously awarded both the U.S. Army and Navy Medals of Honor for action against the enemy on July 18, 1918. He was born in the town of Gbely, in Western Slovakia, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1906.
First ladies
Religion
Notable religious figures
Religious leaders
Science and technology
Philosophers, polyhistors and teachers
- Pavol Jozef Ã
 afárik (Paul Joseph Schaffarik, Pavel Josef Safarik) (1795âÂÂ1861) â poet, professor, polyhistor
- Jakob Jakobeus (1591âÂÂ1645) â poet, historian, priest, and writer
Linguists, humanists and historians
- Anton Bernolák (1762âÂÂ1813) â Lower nobleman, Jesuit, creator of the first standard version of Slovak (in the 1780s), which was based on western Slovak dialects.
- ýudovÃÂt Ã
 túr (LudevÃÂt Ã
 túr) (1815âÂÂ1856) â Best known for his role in the development of modern Slovak. In 1844 he suggested that the central Slovak dialect be used as the standard language of the Slovaks, and in 1846 he codified the new language standard in his Nauka reÃÂi Slovenskej (Theory of the Slovak Language)
- Adam FrantiÃ
¡ek Kollár (Adam Franz Kollar) (1718âÂÂ1783) â Lower nobleman, historian and jurist who rose to the ranks of Imperial-Royal Court Councilor and Chief Imperial-Royal Librarian of Empress Maria Theresa. Coined the term ethnology.
- Janko MatúÃ
¡ka (1821âÂÂ1877) â author of the Slovak national anthem
- Martin Hattala (1821âÂÂ1903) â linguist
Inventors and engineers
- Jozef MurgaÃ
¡ (1864âÂÂ1929) â inventor of the wireless telegraph (forerunner of the radio), and holder of other patents include the spinning reel (for fishing), the wave meter, the electric transformer, the magnetic detector, and an engine producing electromagnetic waves.
- Aurel Stodola (1859âÂÂ1942) â engineer and professor, enabled the construction of steam and gas turbines (around 1900), constructor of a movable artificial arm (the Stodola arm) in 1915
- John Dopyera (Ján Dopjera) (1893âÂÂ1988) â inventor of music instruments, invented the Dobro resonator guitar
<big>Aviation</big>
- Ján Bahýþ (1865âÂÂ1916) â military engineer, inventor of a motor-driven helicopter (four years before Bréguet and Cornu). Bahýþ was granted 7 patents in all, including the invention of the tank pump, air balloons combined with an air turbine, the first petrol engine car in Slovakia (with Anton Marschall) and a lift up to Bratislava castle.
- Ã
 tefan Banià(1870âÂÂ1941) â inventor of the military parachute and of the first actively used parachute
- Ivan Alexander Getting (1912âÂÂ2003) â American physicist and electrical engineer, credited (along with Bradford Parkinson) with the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Natural sciences and medicine
Geology and mineralogy
- Dimitrij Andrusov (1897âÂÂ1976) â geologist and paleontologist, founder of modern Slovak geology
- Jan Veizer (1941) â geochemist and paleoclimatologist
Archeology
Physics
Mathematics
Computer science
Astronomy
- Matthias Bel â 17th century astronomer. He made first relatively precise measurement of distance from Earth to Sun.
Astronomers (20th century)
Astronauts / cosmonauts
- Ivan Bella (1964) â the first cosmonaut of Slovakia (in 1998)
- Eugene Cernan (1934) â U.S. astronaut, last man to set foot on the Moon, son of the Slovak immigrant Ondrej ÃÂerÃ
Âan.
- Michael Fincke (1967) â U.S. astronaut, current American record holder for time in space, grandson of Margaret Hornyak Fincke
Economists
Culture
Literature
See list of Slovak prose and drama authors.
See list of Slovak poets.
Music
Classical
Composers
- Alexander Albrecht (1885âÂÂ1958) â composer, conductor, teacher
- Ján Levoslav Bella (1843âÂÂ1936) â composer, author of the first Slovak opera "KováàWieland"
- Juraj BeneÃ
¡ (1940âÂÂ2004) â composer
- Ján Cikker (1911âÂÂ1989) â composer, teacher
- ErnÃ
 Dohnányi (aka Ernst von Dohnányi) (July 27, 1877 â February 9, 1960) â Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist.
- Viliam FiguÃ
¡-Bystrý (1875âÂÂ1937) â composer, teacher
- Tibor FreÃ
¡o (1918âÂÂ1987) â composer, conductor
- VladimÃÂr Godár (1956) â composer
- Frico Kafenda (1883âÂÂ1963) â composer, teacher, pianist, conductor
- Dezider KardoÃ
¡ (1914âÂÂ1991) â composer, teacher
- Ladislav Kupkovià(1936âÂÂ2016) â composer, conductor
- Peter Machajdik (1961) â composer, organizer
- Ján Móry (Johann Mory) (1892âÂÂ1978) â composer
- Alexander Moyzes (1906âÂÂ1984) â composer
- MikuláÃ
¡ Schneider-Trnavský (1881âÂÂ1958) â composer
- Eugen SuchoÃ
 (1908âÂÂ1993) â the most important Slovak composer, author of the first Slovak national opera "KrútÃ
Âava", teacher
- Iris Szeghy (1956) â female composer
Conductors
Instrumentalists
Opera singers
Jazz
- Peter Lipa (1943) â important current jazz singer, composer
- Laco Deczi (1938) â jazz musician, trumpet player, composer
- Martin Valihora (1976) â jazz musician, drummer
Popular music
- Adonxs (1995) â singer
- Karin Ann (2002) â singer and songwriter
- Jaroslav Filip (1949âÂÂ2000) â musician, composer, vocalist, actor, playwright
- Fedor FreÃ
¡o (1947-2018) â rock bassist and singer, son of conductor Tibor FreÃ
¡o
- Marika Gombitová (1956) â singer, composer, musician since the second half of the 1970s
- FrantiÃ
¡ek Griglák (1953) â rock and jazz guitarist, founder of Fermáta
- Dave Grohl (1969) â drummer of Nirvana, singer of Foo Fighters
- Dara Rolins (1972) â singer, entrepreneur
- Tina (1984) â singer, musician since the 2000s
- DuÃ
¡an Hájek (1946) - drummer and percussionist of many big-beat bands in the 60s and 70s
- Pavol Hammel (1948) â singer, composer, musician (reached his height the 1970s and 1980s)
- Jana Kirschner â musician, composer, vocalist
- Jana Kocianová (1947âÂÂ2018) â singer, musician, jazzman, gospels singer reached her height the 1970s
- Ján Lehotský (1947) â composer, musician, singer of Modus (a band having reached its height in the late 1970s)
- Rytmus (1977) â rapper, singer, actor, member and co-founder of the hip-hop group Kontrafakt, musician since the 1990s
- Ivan Tásler (1979) â singer, guitarist, composer, producer, musician since the 1990s
- Peter Lipa â musician, composer, vocalist, scatman, jazzman, co-organizer of BJD (Bratislava Jazz Days) festival
- Laco LuÃÂenià(1952) â musician, producer, member of Modus
- Richard Müller (1961) â the best-known current Slovak pop-rock singer
- VaÃ
¡o Patejdl (1954) â the most important Slovak pop composer in the 1980s and 1990s, singer, musician
- Jozef RáÃ
¾ (1954) â current singer of Elán (a band having reached its height in the 1980s)
- DeÃ
¾o Ursiny (1947âÂÂ1995) â composer, rock singer, musician in the 1960s and 1970s
- Marián Varga (1947âÂÂ2017) â composer and rock keyboardist, founder of Collegium Musicum
- Sui Vesan â folk musician
- Miroslav Ã
½birka (1952âÂÂ2021) â singer, composer from the 1970s to the 1990s
- Adéla Jergová (2003) â singer-songwriter
Fine arts
Painters and graphic artists
- Janko Alexy (1894âÂÂ1970) â painter
- BlaÃ
¾ej BaláÃ
¾ (1958) â painter, graphic artist
- Mária BaláÃ
¾ová (1956) â painter, graphic artist
- MiloÃ
¡ Alexander Bazovský (1899âÂÂ1968) â painter, graphic artist
- Martin Benka (1888âÂÂ1971) â painter, illustrator
- AlbÃÂn Brunovský (1935âÂÂ1997) â graphic artist, painter, illustrator
- Lajos Csordák (1864âÂÂ1937) â painter
- ýudovÃÂt Fulla (1902âÂÂ1980) â painter, graphic artist, illustrator
- MikuláÃ
¡ Galanda (1895âÂÂ1938) â painter, graphic artist, illustrator
- Ian Hornak (1944âÂÂ2002) â draughtsman, painter, printmaker
- Július Jakoby (1903âÂÂ1985) â painter
- Ján Kupecký (Johann Kupecky) (1667âÂÂ1740) â painter
- Anton Lehmden (1929âÂÂ2018) â Austrian painter; born in Slovakia
- Palo Macho (1965) â painter
- Jozef Teodor Mousson (1887âÂÂ1946) â painter
- Koloman Sokol (1902âÂÂ2003) â painter
- Karl Sovanka (1883âÂÂ1961) â painter, sculptor
- Martin Vargic â graphic artist, illustrator
- Andy Warhol
Sculptors
Photographers
- Dezo Hoffmann (1912âÂÂ1986) â photoreporter and photographer
- Tono Stano (1960) â photographer; his photograph Sense inspired the poster for the film Showgirls.
Architects
Film and theatre
Actors
- Andrej Bagar (1900âÂÂ1966) â actor, director
- Barbora Bobuþová (1974) â actress
- Milan KÃ
ÂaÃ
¾ko (1945) â actor, former Slovak Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Culture
- Jozef Kroner (1924âÂÂ1998) â actor, starred in the first Czechoslovak, Czech and Slovak film awarded by Oscar: The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze, 1965)
- Juraj Kukura (1947) â well-known Slovak actor (theater, film), who has also been working in Germany.
- Barbara Nedeljáková (1979) â actress, starred in the Hollywood horror film Hostel
- Paul Newman (1925âÂÂ2008) â US actor, director, entrepreneur, philanthropist, of ethnic Slovak mother
- EmÃÂlia VáÃ
¡Ã¡ryová (1942) â actress
- Jon Voight (1938) â American actor with Slovak ancestry
- Karol L. Zachar (1918âÂÂ2003) â actor, director
- TomáÃ
¡ RaÃÂek (1947) â Slovak actor (theater, film, TV), who has also been working in Canada
- Michael Stroka (1938âÂÂ1997) â US TV actor
Filmmakers
Law
Sports
- Ivan Bátory (1975) â cross-country skiing
- Imre Bugár (1955) â ethnic Hungarian athlete
- Karol DivÃÂn (1936âÂÂ2022) â figure-skating
- PaulÃÂna Fialková (1992) - biathlete
- Bohumil Golián (1931âÂÂ2012) â volleyball-player
- Jozef Gönci (1974) â sport shooter
- Jozef Krnáà(1977) â judo
- Anastasiya Kuzmina (Anastasia Kuzminová) (1984) â Russian born biathlete
- Martina Moravcová (1976) â swimmer, twice Olympic silver medalist
- Ondrej Nepela (1951âÂÂ1989) â figure-skating
- Jozef Plachý (1949) â athlete
- Jozef Pribilinec (1960) â race walker, Olympic gold medalist
- Jack Quinn (1883âÂÂ1946) â baseball player
- Richard Réti â Austrian-Hungarian, later Czechoslovak chess grandmaster
- Jozef SabovÃÂÃÂk â figure-skating
- Peter Sagan (1990) â cyclist, 3 times UCI World Champion (2015, 2016, 2017)
- Alojz Sokol (Aloisius Szokol) (1871âÂÂ1932) â athlete, pioneer of the Olympic movement in historic Hungary
- Anton Tkáà(1951) â cyclist
- Yvonne Tobis (born 1948) â Israeli Olympic swimmer, born in Bratislava
- Július Torma (1922âÂÂ1991) â boxer
- Elmer Valo (1921âÂÂ1998) â baseball player
- Veronika Velez-Zuzulová (1984) â alpine ski racer
- Petra Vlhová (1995) â alpine ski racer; World Cup winner 2021, gold on the Winter Olympics 2022
- Ján Zachara (1928âÂÂ2025) â boxer
- Radoslav Ã
½idek (1981) â snowboarder, first Slovak medallist from independent Slovakia at the Winter Olympics
Football
Ice hockey
Tennis
Water sports
Figure skating
Modelsports
Other
Historical personalities
Models
Miscellaneous
See also
List of Slovak Americans
References