Ernő Rubik
Hungarian inventor (born 1944)
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.
Early life and education
Ernő Rubik was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 13 July 1944, during World War II, and has lived all of his life in Hungary.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q186089. VIAF identifies the subject as 85360293. The Library of Congress control number is n85048619. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 1974, 1977 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ernő Rubik” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.