List of Famous people born in Slovakia
Ľudovít Štúr
Ľudovít Velislav Štúr, known in his era as Ludevít Štúr, was a Slovakian revolutionary politician and writer. As a leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century, and the author of the Slovak language standard, he is lauded as one of the most important figures in Slovak history.
Richard Raši
Richard Raši is a Slovak physician and politician who served as Slovakia's Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Information. A member of the Voice – Social Democracy political party, Raši previously served as Mayor of the city of Košice. He also served from 3 June 2008 until 8 June 2010 as Minister of Health in the First cabinet of Robert Fico.
Ľuboš Micheľ
Ľuboš Micheľ is a former top-level Slovak football referee who currently works External Advisor to the Football for PAOK FC.
Ján Valach
Ján Valach is a Slovak retired professional road cyclist. He represented his nation Slovakia in two editions of the Olympic Games, and later competed as a member of Dukla Trenčín–Merida professional cycling team before his official retirement in 2010. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe.
John Zápolya
John Zápolya, or John Szapolyai, was King of Hungary from 1526 to 1540. His rule was disputed by Archduke Ferdinand I, who also claimed the title King of Hungary. He was Voivode of Transylvania before his coronation, from 1510 to 1526.
Milan Rastislav Štefánik
Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a Slovak politician, diplomat, aviator, Freemason, and astronomer. During World War I, he served at the same time as a general in the French Army and as Minister of War for Czechoslovakia. As one of the leading members of the Czechoslovak National Council, he contributed decisively to the cause of Czechoslovakian sovereignty, since the status of Czech- and Slovak-populated territories was one of those in question until shortly before the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918.
Konrád Burchard-Bélaváry
Konrád Burchard-Bélaváry (1837–1916), was a Hungarian Business magnate and diplomat.
Gusztáv Gratz
Gusztáv Gratz was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1921. He was a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Gratz published in the Huszadik Század and the Társadalomtudományi Társaság newspapers. He was a representative in the National Assembly from 1906. He also served as managing director of the National Association of Manufacturers (GYOSZ). In 1917 he was appointed Minister of Finance in Móric Esterházy's cabinet. He took part in the peace negotiations' economical parts during the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and Treaty of Bucharest.
Vladimír Mečiar
Vladimír Mečiar is a Slovak politician who served as Prime Minister of Slovakia three times, from 1990 to 1991, from 1992 to 1994 and from 1994 to 1998. He was the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (ĽS-HZDS). Mečiar led Slovakia during the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992–93 and was one of the leading presidential candidates in Slovakia in 1999 and 2004. He has been criticized by his opponents as well as by Western political organisations for having an autocratic style of administration and for his connections to organized crime and his years in government became infamously known as Mečiarizmus.
Ján Vilček
Jan T. Vilček is a biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. He is a professor in the department of microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine, and chairman and CEO of The Vilcek Foundation. Vilček, a native of Bratislava, Slovakia, received his M.D. degree from Comenius University Medical School, Bratislava in 1957; and his Ph.D. in Virology from the Institute of Virology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1962. In 1964, Vilček, with his wife Marica, defected from Communist Czechoslovakia during a three-day visit to Vienna. In 1965, the Vilčeks immigrated to the United States, and have since lived in New York City. Vilček devoted his scientific career to studies of soluble mediators that regulate the immune system (cytokines), including interferon and tumor necrosis factor (TNF).