János Irinyi

(1817 – 1895)

Chemist.‘Father of safety matches’.

He wrote several articles on chemistry and published his textbook for schools entitled ‘The Elements of Chemistry’. Regent-President of Hungary Lajos Kossuth assigned him to direct the manufacture of guns and gunpowder, and put him in charge of supervising the national factories.

Invented: silent and non-explosive matches (1836).

János Irinyi