George Szell was a Hungarian-born American conductor, pianist, and composer who built the Cleveland Orchestra into a leading American orchestra during his long tenure (1946–70) there as musical director. A child prodigy on the piano, Szell was educated in Vienna. His conducting debut came at the

Endre Szemerédi: …theory which became known as Szemerédi’s regularity lemma; it states that any graph can be broken up into smaller graphs that appear random. Szemerédi proved the lemma in a restricted form at first and then generally in 1978. The lemma proved extremely useful in graph theory, since it shows that…

Endre Szemerédi: …theorem, which became known as Szemerédi’s theorem, proved a 1936 conjecture by Erdős and Hungarian mathematician Paul Turán. In number theory, an arithmetic progression is a sequence of numbers that proceeds in steps of the same amount. For example, 2, 4, 6, 8 is a progression with four terms and…

Endre Szemerédi is a Hungarian American mathematician awarded the 2012 Abel Prize “for his fundamental contributions to discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science.” Szemerédi originally studied to become a doctor, but he soon dropped out of medical school and took a job in a factory. He

Albert Szent-Györgyi was a Hungarian biochemist whose discoveries concerning the roles played by certain organic compounds, especially vitamin C, in the oxidation of nutrients by the cell brought him the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Szent-Györgyi earned a medical degree from the

Pest: Szentendre still reflects the influence of its Dalmatian Serb founders in its Mediterranean-style cityscape, Baroque buildings, and numerous museums—including the Hungarian Open Air Museum (an ethnographical village that re-creates aspects of historic Hungarian folklife); the museums featuring the artworks of the Ferenczy family, of Jenő…

Hungary: War and liberation: Gotthard (Szentgotthárd) on Aug. 1, 1664, the subsequent Peace of Vasvár still recognized all the sultan’s gains.

Miklos Szentkuthy was a Hungarian writer who wrote complex experimental fiction that explored the absurdity of life and the impossibility of imposing order on a chaotic world. After attending Budapest University, Szentkuthy taught secondary school in Budapest (1932–57). After publishing several

Attila József: …the cofounders of the review Szép Szó. In his own poetry József presented intimate pictures of proletarian life. He immortalized his mother, a poor washerwoman, and made her a symbol of the working class. He created a style of melancholy realism, infused with irrationality, through which he was able to…

Cipszer: …present-day north-central Slovakia known as Špis (Hungarian: Szepes; German: Zips). The Cipszers originated in the lower Rhine region, Flanders, Saxony, and Silesia. King Géza II (ruled 1141–62) of Hungary moved them to the Szepes area in the middle of the 12th century. Their local self-government was first recognized in writing…

János Arany: …edited a literary periodical, the Szépirodalmi Figyelő (later the Koszorú), and was elected first secretary and in 1870 secretary-general of the academy.

Henryk Szeryng was a Polish-born Mexican violinist noted for his performances of the major repertory. Szeryng studied with Carl Flesch in Berlin and with Jacques Thibaud in Paris. He made his debut in 1933, and from 1933 to 1939 he was a composition student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During World

Irena Szewińska was a Polish sprinter who dominated women’s athletics for nearly two decades. Between 1964 and 1976, she earned seven Olympic medals, tying the record of Australian Shirley Strickland de la Hunty for most medals won by a woman in Olympic athletics competition. An exceptional

Miklós Zrínyi: …Hungarian literature, is his epic Szigeti Veszedelem (1645–46; Eng. trans., “The Peril of Sziget,” in Hungarian Poetry, 1955), which deals with the heroic defense of the fortress of Szigetvár (1566) against the armies of the sultan Süleyman II. The commander of the fortress, the central figure of the epic, was…

Győr-Moson-Sopron: …the Moson arm is the Szigetköz, a low-lying watery flatland with scattered villages that is noted for fishing and wildfowl.

Baranya: Szigetvár gained special significance in 1566 when the fortress there was put under siege by the invading Ottoman Turks. The Hungarian defenders, led by Nicholas Zrínyi, set fire to the fort rather than surrender and then launched a suicidal attack against the much larger Ottoman…

Hungarian literature: Writers of the late 19th century: Ede Szigligeti, a prolific playwright, wrote entertaining comedies and created a special genre of plays, the népszinmü, that give an idealized picture of village life but also contain a measure of social criticism. Very different were the plays of Imre Madách, whose masterpiece Az ember…

Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born American physicist who helped conduct the first sustained nuclear chain reaction and was instrumental in initiating the Manhattan Project for the development of the atomic bomb. In 1922 Szilard received his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin and joined the staff of

Zoltán Huszárik: Szindbád, based on Gyula Krúdy’s short novels from the turn of the 20th century, was released in 1971. The film is unusual in that it has virtually no plot and focuses instead on the personality of its protagonist, played by one of Hungarian cinema’s best-known…

Péter Nádas: …one-act plays were collected in Színtér (1982; “Stage”).

Péter Nádas: …returned to theatrical work with Szirénének (“Siren Song”), part of a project for which European authors of various backgrounds were assigned parts of Homer’s Odyssey to adapt for the stage.

Poland: Social and political structure: …to be dominated by the szlachta, which regarded the state as an embodiment of its rights and privileges. Ranging from the poorest landless yeomen to the great magnates, the szlachta insisted on the equality of all its members. As a political nation it was more numerous (8–10 percent) than the…

Henrietta Szold: …was renamed Mosad Szold (The Szold Foundation). Szold died in Jerusalem, in the Hadassah-Hebrew University Hospital she had helped make possible.

Henrietta Szold was an American Jewish leader, who was a founder of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Szold was of a German-speaking Hungarian immigrant family; her father was a rabbi. After graduating from public high school in 1877, she taught French, German, Latin, science,

Szolnok, city of county status and seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok megye (county), east-central Hungary, at the confluence of the Zagyva and Tisza rivers. Under the Árpád kings (c. 1001–1301), Szolnok was a market town and distributing centre for rock salt from the Maramureș Mountains (now in

Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, megye (county), east-central Hungary. It is bounded by the counties of Heves and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén to the north, Hajdú-Bihar and Békés to the east, Csongrád to the south, Bács-Kiskun to the southwest, and Pest to the west. The county seat is Szolnok, and the principal

Szombathely, city of county status and seat of Vas megye (county), northwestern Hungary. Szombathely is situated on the Gyöngyös River, near the frontier with Austria, south-southeast of Vienna and west of Budapest. The city is the successor to the Roman settlement of Savaria (Sabaria), the capital

Frédéric Chopin was a Polish French composer and pianist of the Romantic period, best known for his solo pieces for piano and his piano concerti. Although he wrote little but piano works, many of them brief, Chopin ranks as one of music’s greatest tone poets by reason of his superfine imagination

Jack W. Szostak is an English-born American biochemist and geneticist who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with American molecular biologists Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, for his discoveries concerning the function of telomeres (segments of DNA

Holocaust: Artistic responses to the Holocaust: …Pianist (2002), an adaptation of Władysław Szpilman’s autobiography, The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 (1999); The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (2013), a short documentary focusing on the world’s oldest living Holocaust survivor at the time of the film’s release; and…

Maria Dąbrowska was a Polish novelist and critic, a major 20th-century writer and moral authority. Born into a relatively impecunious family of landowners, Dąbrowska was educated in Poland, at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and then in Belgium. Afterward, she lived in France and Great

Pomorskie: Geography: …popular with tourists, who visit Szwajcaria Kaszubska (“Kashubian Switzerland”), the hilly homeland of the Kashubs. Seaside resorts include Ustka, Łeba, Hel, Sopot, and Krynica Morska.

Beata Szydło is a Polish politician who became prime minister of Poland after the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość; PiS) party won an absolute majority in the Sejm (legislature) in the October 2015 national election. Szydło served as prime minister until December 2017, when she was replaced

Karol Szymanowski was the foremost Polish composer of the early 20th century. Szymanowski began to compose and play the piano at an early age. In 1901 he went to Warsaw and studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition privately until 1904. Finding the musical life in Warsaw limiting, he went to

Karol Szymanowski was the foremost Polish composer of the early 20th century. Szymanowski began to compose and play the piano at an early age. In 1901 he went to Warsaw and studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition privately until 1904. Finding the musical life in Warsaw limiting, he went to

Wisława Szymborska was a Polish poet whose intelligent and empathic explorations of philosophical, moral, and ethical issues won her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. Szymborska’s father was the steward on a count’s family estate. When she was eight, the family moved to Kraków, and she

David Seymour was a Polish-born American photojournalist who is best known for his empathetic pictures of people, especially children. Seymour studied graphic arts in Warsaw and in 1931 went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne, where he became interested in photography. During this period he

Polish literature: Kochanowski and his followers: …notable of Kochanowski’s followers was Szymon Szymonowic (Simonides). He introduced in his Sielanki (1614; “Idylls”) a poetic genre that was to retain its vitality until the end of the 19th century. These pastoral poems exemplify the processes of imitation, adaptation, and assimilation by which Renaissance writers brought foreign models into…

Latin American art: Trends, c. 1950–c. 1970: For example, Fernando de Szyszlo of Peru seemed to capture turbulent forces of creation in his art beginning in the 1950s. He uses Inca proper names, such as that of the martyred Túpac Amaru, for his titles, and his black shapes painted on colour fields communicate the…

Arghūn: …Arghūn appointed an anti-Islāmic Jew, Saʿd ad-Dawlah, first as his minister of finance and then (in June) as vizier of his entire empire. The predominantly Muslim population may have resented the rule of a Buddhist and a Jew, but their administration proved lawful and just and restored order and prosperity.

Ifat: …attempt at independence under Sultan Sʿadad-Dīn was foiled by Yeshaq I of Ethiopia, who subsequently annexed Ifat to his kingdom.