Background and career
Ernő Rubik (Hungarian: [ˈrubik ˈɛrnøː]; born 13 July 1944) is a Hungarian architect and inventor widely known for creating the Rubik's Cube (1974), Rubik's Magic, and Rubik's Snake. Rubik studied sculpture at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in Budapest and architecture at the Technical University, likewise located in Budapest. While a professor of design at the academy, he pursued his hobby of building geometric models. One of these was a prototype of his cube, made of 27 wooden blocks; it took Rubik a month to solve the cube after scrambling it. It proved a useful tool for teaching group theory, and in late 1977, Konsumex, Hungary's state trading company, began marketing it. By 1980, Rubik's Cube was marketed throughout the world, and over 100 million authorized units were sold, mostly during its subsequent three years of popularity. Approximately 50 books were published describing how to solve the puzzle of Rubik's Cube. Following his cube's popularity, Rubik opened a studio to develop designs in 1984; among its products was another popular puzzle toy, Rubik's Magic. Recently, Rubik has been involved with several organizations that promote science and math learning to children, such as the Rubik Learning Initiative and the Judit Polgar Foundation.
Ernő Rubik was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 13 July 1944, during World War II, and has lived all of his life in Hungary. His father, who was also named Ernő Rubik, was a flight engineer at the Esztergom aircraft factory, and his mother, Magdolna Szántó, was a poet. He has stated in almost every interview that he got his inspiration from his father. His father, Ernő, was a highly respected engineer of gliders. His extensive work and expertise in this area gained him an international reputation as an expert in his field. Ernő Rubik has stated that:
Beside him I learned a lot about work in the sense of a value-creating process which has a target, and a positive result too. Both figuratively and literally he was a person capable of 'moving a hill'. There was nothing that could prevent him from doing what he decided or bringing a project to a completion, if necessary even with his own hands. No work was unworthy or undeserving for him.
From 1958 to 1962, Rubik specialized in sculpture at the Secondary School of Fine and Applied Arts. From 1962 to 1967, Rubik attended the Budapest University of Technology where he became a member of the Architecture Faculty. From 1967 to 1971, Rubik attended the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts and Design and was in the Faculty of Interior Architecture and Design. Rubik considers university and the education it afforded him as the decisive event which shaped his life. Rubik stated, "Schools offered me the opportunity to acquire knowledge of subjects or rather crafts that need a lot of practice, persistence, and diligence with the direction of a mentor."
From 1971 to 1979, Rubik was a professor of architecture at the Budapest College of Applied Arts (Iparművészeti Főiskola). It was during his time there that he built designs for a three-dimensional puzzle and completed the first working prototype of the Rubik's Cube in 1974, applying for a patent on the puzzle in 1975. In an interview with CNN, Rubik stated that he was "searching to find a good task for my students."
Space always intrigued me, with its incredibly rich possibilities, space alteration by (architectural) objects, objects' transformation in space (sculpture, design), movement in space and in time, their correlation, their repercussion on mankind, the relation between man and space, the object and time. I think the CUBE arose from this interest, from this search for expression and for this always more increased acuteness of these thoughts...
