The “Rubik’s Cube” is the most popular toy of all time, and it was a big part of 1980s culture. Ern Rubik, a young Hungarian professor, came up with it and gave it his name. At the time, he taught architecture, and he had always been amazed by how complicated structure and math could be. Rubik made a solid cube that could be bent in many different ways without breaking. He did this to give his students a challenge. This was hard enough to do because it was made by hand, but the real trick was the puzzle that came with the toy. Each side was painted a solid color, and if you randomly turned the cube, the pieces would move around. It would be nearly impossible to figure out how to put the cube back together correctly. Rubik himself took more than a month to figure out how to solve the puzzle he made. He had trouble getting this toy patented and sold, though, because many toy companies turned him down. But once the toy caught on and got out of communist Hungary, it changed a whole generation. One in seven people in the world has probably played with a Rubik’s Cube. Rubik still works as an educator and is on the board of the company that bears his name.
Early years and childhood
During the Second World War, he was born to Ern Rubik, a flight engineer, and Magdolna Szántó, a poet. In almost every interview, he said that his father was the most important person in his life.
As a flight engineer, his father made a name for himself around the world. His son said that this was because his father never gave up, even if it meant doing something by himself.
In 1958, he started taking sculpture classes at a secondary art school. Four years later, he graduated and went on to study architecture at the Budapest University of Technology.
Erno Rubik’s Career
From 1971 to 1983, he taught architecture at the “Budapest College of Applied Arts,” which was a part of the same college he went to.
To challenge his students, he started and finished the first few models of his cube puzzle in 1974. He tried to get a patent the next year.
The weak Hungarian economy made it hard for him to finish his puzzle. In the end, a smaller company made his toy, and it sold fairly well all over the country. It was called “The Magic Cube” at the time.
In 1979, he was able to get a company in New York called “Ideal Toys” to make a lot of them. They changed everything about it and called it the “Rubik’s Cube.”
When it came out, the “Rubik’s Cube” became a worldwide hit. As of 2015, more than 350 million had been sold. It won “Toy of the Year” in many different countries for several years in a row.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the magazine “…És játék,” which means “…And Games,” asked him to be their editor. Here, he worked on a hard puzzle that he was going to publish.
He went on to start his own company, called Rubik’s, which would later make toys like Rubik’s Snake, Rubik’s 360, and Rubik’s Magic. This company also makes modern furniture that has very cool designs.
He was put in charge of the “Hungarian Engineering Academy” in the year 1990. During his time here, he has set up a fund for students with good ideas who show promise.
Works of note
Rubik made the best-selling toy of all time, the “Rubik’s Cube,” in 1974 to challenge his students in the classroom. After his first toy sold hundreds of millions of prototypes, he started his own company to make more puzzles.
He was a teacher all his life, and in 1990, he went back to teaching when he became president of the “Hungarian Engineering Academy.” He keeps an eye out for smart students who might make a puzzle that can’t be solved on their own.
Awards & Achievements
Starting in 1980 and going on for three years, he won the “Toy of the Year” award from many countries, such as Finland, Sweden, Italy, the UK, and Germany.
In 1982, New York City’s “Museum of Modern Art” put a Rubik’s Cube in one of its galleries.
In 2009, he was named “Ambassador of the Year of Creativity and Innovation” by the European Union.
In 2014, he was given the title “Honorary Citizen of Budapest.” Even though he has won many more prestigious scientific awards, this one meant a lot to him.
Personal History and Legacies
He is married to Genes Hégely, and the two of them have four kids named Genes, Anna, Ern Jr., and Szonja. He keeps his personal life very private and rarely gives interviews or makes public appearances. When asked, he said that reading and gardening are his favorite things to do.
The 1980s were all about the “Rubik’s Cube,” which started a new art movement called “Rubik Cubism” and showed up in movies and music videos. In 2014, he started a six-year tour of a program called “Beyond Rubik’s Cube,” which is about science, technology, engineering, and math.
Erno Rubik’s Earnings
As of February 2015, Ern Rubik’s estimated net worth is not easy for the public to find. But it’s safe to say that the man who made the best-selling toy of all time did pretty well for himself.
Estimated Net worth
Erno Rubik is a Hungarian inventor, architect, and architecture professor with a $100 million net worth. Most people know him for making the Rubik’s Cube. As of this writing, the Rubik’s Cube has sold more than 350 million times around the world, making it the best-selling toy of all time.
So far, the toy has made at least $5 billion worldwide, mostly because of a licensing deal with the American company Ideal Toys.
Trivia
A Rubik’s Cube can be put together in exactly 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways. This famous person came up with this puzzle, and only one of these is the right answer.
The biggest Rubik’s cube in the world is three meters tall and weighs more than 500kg. The city of Knoxville, Tennessee, is where this cube is.
He is a very shy person who rarely goes to competitions for the “Cube.” He says that being known by people makes him feel very awkward.