Wolfgang Kempelen
(23. 1. 1734 Bratislava - 26. 3. 1804 Vienna) polymath, mechanic, inventor, director of a salt mine in Transylvania, councillor of the Hungarian Transylvanian Office in Vienna. In 1778 Kempelen constructed a speech machine based on imitation of human vocal organs. Of his other inventions the most famous are a chess machine and a writing machine for the blind. He also built a pontoon bridge over the river Danube and constructed a pressurised watercourse to take water from the Danube to Bratislava Castle. In Vienna he designed an irrigation system for the Imperial residence at Schonbrunn.