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n looking at the day in history, I came across the name of this Holiday and just had to use it. The people of Czechoslovakia call it Independence Day, which I like better and certainly I can spell that much easier. But the full name seems to work for the people in Slovakia at least for awhile. This holiday was celebrated with the people of Czechoslovakia from 1918 until 1993 when the two countries went their separate ways. I might have skipped this holiday as well for today, given my temptation to do a list about Bill Gates or Charlie Daniels whose birthdays are today. But since I actually know someone in Slovakia, today’s list will be the top ten famous Slovaks:
- Martina Hingis – tennis player, was born in Slovakia although she now lives in Switzerland.
- Stefan Banic – inventor of the modern parachute
- Juraj Jánošík – Slovak Robin Hood featured in dozens of books and at least 8 movies
- John Dopyera – father of modern acoustic string instruments
- Ján Bahýľ – the inventor of the motor-driven helicopter
- Jozef Murgaš – the inventor of wireless telegraph
- Jozef Maximilián Petzval – inventor of the camera zoom and lens
- Jozef Karol Hell – inventor of the industrial water pump
- Stan Mitka – Center for the Stanley Cup Champions Chicago Black Hawks (1961)
- Michael Strank – the leader of the group of U.S. marines who famously raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima
Please do not ask me to pronounce any of these names but anyone jumping out of a plane or using a zoom on a camera should certainly thank these famous Slovakians.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 5:23 pm and is filed under 10 Best Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
