Biography

He was born in Terézváros, into a Jewish family. His father, Bernát Günszberg, worked at the Hungarian General Coal Mining Company (MÁK Rt.) as a chief accountant, later becoming a company director until 1928. His mother was Adél Jakobovits. The parents married in 1899 and had three children: Dénes (born in 1900), György (born in 1901), and Endre (born in 1903). On March 8, 1902, the father, along with his sons, received permission to change their family name to "Gábor."

Career

He attended the Szemere Street Municipal Elementary School (1906–1910) and completed his secondary education at the Main Real School on Markó Street in District V, Budapest (1910–1918). On November 14, 1911, the patent description for the "Aeroplane Carousel" was issued (the application was filed on October 8, 1910). He graduated from high school on March 6, 1918, and was drafted into the military on March 15. He returned home after the armistice in Northern Italy. During this time, he learned Italian, which became his fourth language. In November, he enrolled in the mechanical engineering department of the Royal Joseph Technical University of Technology and Economics. On May 24, 1919, he converted to the Lutheran faith. From 1920, he continued his studies in Berlin at the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg, where he regularly attended lectures at the university, including Albert Einstein's seminars. In 1924, he earned an engineering degree from Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1933 to 1934, he worked in the research laboratory of United Incandescent, focusing on the physics of gas discharge. In 1934, he permanently settled in England and became a British citizen. From 1934 to 1948, he worked at the British Thomson-Houston Company's research laboratory in Rugby.