Samuel Mikovinyi

* Ábelfalva, around 1698 – † near Trenčín, March 23, 1750 / mathematician, geodesist, teacher, founder of modern cartography in Hungary ; ; The date of his birth is uncertain. Some say he was born in 1686, but most encyclopedias consider the date around 1698/1700 to be the most likely. This uncertainty is interesting because his father, Sámuel Mikoviny, Sr., was a Lutheran pastor, so he must have recorded the exact date of the boy's birth somewhere. There is also a debate about his origin between Slovak and Hungarian historians of science. In 1718–1721, Mikoviny was one of Mátyás Bél's favorite students at the Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava, and through his intercession, he was able to continue his studies in Germany from 1721–1724: in Altdorf and then in Jena. In addition to mathematics, cartography, and astronomy, he also acquired thorough knowledge of engraving, and his first known work is a engraving of Altdorf. In 1724, he set off on a study trip to Europe for a few months, but no further details are known about this, it can only be assumed that he visited Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. ; After his return home, in 1725, he was appointed engineer of Bratislava County, mainly responsible for river regulation and dam construction. In the meantime, he also fulfilled various noble commissions, such as surveying the Esterházy family's estate in Tata and shaping the final form of the Old Lake in Tata. In 1731, he began mapping Hungary at that time, as part of Mátyás Bél's large-scale undertaking Notitia Hungariae. Some of his county maps are included in the printed volumes, but much more remained in manuscript. It was then that he also put the basic principles of modern cartography on paper. Since he had versatile technical knowledge, Maria Theresa entrusted him with the management of the two-year mining officer training institute in Bánya Selmec in her decree of 22 June 1735. Thanks to him, mining and metallurgical vocational training rose to a high level in a short time. He primarily taught mathematics, although this was interpreted much more broadly at the time. ; In addition, he taught mechanics, hydraulics, and land and mine surveying. Since Mikoviny also had to perform many other tasks, the Bergschule in Selmec only became a two-year college and then a three-year academy long after Mikoviny's unfortunately early death, in 1763, which was the most prestigious technical higher education institution in Europe at the time. During the War of the Austrian Succession that broke out in 1741, he was also entrusted with border defense works and, with the rank of major, carried out cartographic surveys and designed fortifications and defensive works as a military engineer. The reconstruction of Buda Castle began in 1749 based on his plans. In the spring of 1750, he supervised the river regulation works on the Váh, during which he caught a cold and died unexpectedly near Trenčín. The location of his grave is unknown. His unfinished maps were completed and published by one of his close colleagues, engineer and cartographer András Erik Friss (18th century), partly supplemented with new data. He himself was the designer and draftsman of numerous county maps. As a chamber and then county engineer, he worked in the Bratislava area, in the Upper Hungary and Transdanubia, and later along the Sava. Most of his works remained in manuscript.