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Ányos Jedlik (Hungarian Jedlik István Ányos; Slovak Štefan Anián Jedlík) (January 11, 1800 – December 13, 1895) was a Hungarian inventor, engineer, physicist, Roman Catholic priest, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books in Hungarian. He is considered to be the Unsung Father of the Dynamo.

Life

He was born in the in Szimő, in the Komárom county of the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia). He was Hungarian but despite this, Slovak nationalists often make the claim that he was Slovak.
However the Kingdom of Hungary was a multi-ethnic region and his family name is undoubtedly western-Slavic origin which means "eater" in English.

Jedlik's education began at high schools in Nagyszombat and Pozsony. In 1817 he became a Benedictine and from that time continued his studies at the schools of that order. He lectured at Benedictine schools up to 1839, then for 40 years at the Budapest University of Sciences department of physics-mechanics. Only few guessed at that time that his beneficial activities would play an important part in bringing up a new generation of physicists.

In 1845 he began teaching his pupils in Hungarian instead of Latin. Through his textbook he is regarded as one of the establishers of Hungarian vocabulary in physics. He became the dean of the faculty of arts in 1848, and by 1863 he was rector of the University. From 1858 he was a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and from 1873 an honorary member. He preceded his contemporaries in his scientific work, but he did not speak about his most important invention, his prototype dynamo, until 1856; it was not until 1861 that he mentioned it in writing in a list of inventory of the university. Although that document might serve as a proof of Jedlik's status as the originator, the invention of the dynamo is linked to Siemens' name because Jedlik's invention did not rise to notice at that time.

In 1827, he started experimenting with electromagnetic rotating devices which he called lightning-magnetic self-rotor. In the prototype both the stationary and the revolving parts were electromagnetic. In 1873 at the World's Fair in Vienna he demonstrated his lighting conductor.

He also held lectures in the city of Brno and in the Slovak language.

After his retirement he continued working and spent his last years in complete seclusion at the priory in Győr, the Kingdom of Hungary where he died.

Acclaim

Ányos Jedlik's best known invention is the principle of 'self-excitement'. With the single pole electric starter, he formulated the concept of the dynamo at least 6 years prior to Siemens and Wheatstone. In essence the concept is that instead of permanent magnets, two electromagnets opposite each other induce the magnetic field around the rotor.

As one side of the coil passes in front of the north pole, crossing the line of force, current is thus induced. As the frame rotates further the current diminishes, then arriving at the front of the south pole it rises again but flows in the opposite direction. The frame is connected to a commutator, thus the current always flows in the same direction in the external circuit.

References

1. "Hungarian Cultural Contributions". Lél F. Somogyi at the Cleveland State University. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
2. "Made in Hungary: Hungarian Contributions to Universal Culture". Andrew L. Simon. ISBN 0966573420. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
3. "From the itinerant lecturers of the 18th century to popularizing physics in the 21st century - exploring the relationship between learning and entertainment" (PDF). Conference sponsored by the University of Oldenburg, Deutsches Museum, University of Winnipeg. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
4. "Jedlik Ányos István" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Biographical Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-02-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
5. "Life and work of Ányos Jedlik" (in Hungarian). Bio at Jedlik Ányos High School, Budapest, Hungary. Retrieved 2008-02-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
6. "Ányos Jedlik's village of birth" (in Hungarian). Jedlik Ányos High School of Machinery and Computer Science, Győr, Hungary. Retrieved 2008-02-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. "Jedlik Ányos István, biography" (in Hungarian). University of Szeged. Retrieved 2008-02-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
8. "1000 years of Pannonhalma" (in Hungarian). Gyula Radnai. Retrieved 2008-02-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. "English <-> Slovak Online Dictionary" (in English and Slovak). Retrieved 13 August. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
10. "English <-> Czech Online Dictionary" (in English and Czech). Retrieved 13 August. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• Biography (in Hungarian)
• Jedlik Biography Author Asked - Rights Released

• Hungarian inventors
• Hungarian engineers
• Hungarian physicists
• People associated with electricity
• 1800 births
• 1895 deaths
• Hungarian Roman Catholic priests
• Hungarian Roman Catholics
• Roman Catholic scientist-clerics