Ivan Stodola

Ivan Stodola (10 March 1888 in Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš – 26 March 1977 in Piešťany) was Slovak dramatist and writer. He was born in Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš into a family of professional tanners and teachers. He was educated in his hometown, Prešov and Kežmarok, and later, he studied medicine at college in Budapest and Berlin, earning a degree in 1912. He started as a doctor in Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš, and during World War I he also worked as a wartime doctor. After the war, he returned to his hometown, and became an editor of magazine Boj o zdravie (Struggle for Health). In 1933, he became a regional health inspector and in 1938 - 1939 worked at the Ministry of Health in Prague. In 1946 he earned a degree of lecturer of social pathology. In 1951 while he was working in Bratislava, he was illegitimately sentenced and incarcerated for eight years, but he was freed on amnesty two years later. Since 1954, he lived in Piešťany as a pensioner. In 1967, he earned a title of national artist. He died at the age of 89 on 26 March 1977 in Piešťany. He is now interred in the National Cemetery in Martin.