Erno Rubik and His Magic Cube

In 2023, the world record for solving the Rubik's Cube was broken by Max Park, who finished in 3.13 seconds

And then there's you. Did you ever get so frustrated with a Rubik's Cube that you wanted to pull it apart and put it back together in order? Were you to do so, you'd see how cleverly one of the world's most popular toys is assembled. Working together, the 26 pieces combine to make 43 quintillion possible configurations--but only one solution.

A solitary child, Erno Rubik grew up in post-World War II Hungary obsessed with puzzles, art, nature, and the underlying patterns and structures. He became a professor of art, architecture, and design, who was still fascinated with how objects work together, sometimes becoming greater than their components. In a quest to help his students understand three-dimensional objects and how they move--not to mention a desire to entertain himself--he fashioned a cube whose pieces twisted and turned without breaking, and unexpectedly invented the Rubik's Cube, the most popular puzzle in history, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024.