150th anniversary of the birth of Jozef Murgaš

€10 silver collector coin

Jozef Murgaš (17 February 1864 – 11 May 1929) was a world-class scientist and inventor who played a pioneering role in the development of radiotelegraphy. During his work at Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania, USA) he acquired several invention patents, and in 1905 a company was established (in which he was a shareholder) to put them into practice. Murgaš used the company’s funds to set up a laboratory and erect a trial transmission and reception station in Wilkes-Barre. The station made its first public transmission on 25 June 1905 and was able to transmit and receive radio signals from a distance of up to 35 km. This breakthrough in wireless transmission attracted huge attention. Murgaš was also a founding member of the Slovak League in America and co-authored its Memorandum. During the First World War he actively supported the creation of a common state for Czechs and Slovaks and the legal parity of Slovaks in that state.