Author. Ivan Stodola received notoriety as a Slavic playwright in the first half of the 20th century. In 1967 he earned a title of national artist. Born into a middle-class family, his parents were a tanner and a teacher. After attending local schools, he studied medicine at colleges in Budapest and Berlin, earning a medical degree in 1912 from the University of Budapest. He started a private practice in his hometown. During World War I, he was a physician in field hospitals. After the war, he became the editor of a magazine, "Struggle for Health." Working for the Minister of Health, he was a health inspector. His first play, "Zarty," was a comedy, and published the next year as a novel in 1926. He wrote eight more comedies and a single tragedy. The play "Belasý encián" was published as a book in 1928. He wrote six historical and romantic plays, with "Marína Havranová" being published in book form in 1942. His plays were a significate part of the Slovak theater. During occupation of his homeland in World War II, he produced plays using puppets. He authored five plays that were autobiographical, including in 1969 "Sad times, Sad House," which told of how the Communist illegally held him for three and half years in a prison and took all his personal belongings before releasing him. His biography as an author is published in the Soviet Encyclopedia. Two of his plays were adapted into films: "Varuj" in 1947 and "Brave Thief" in 1958. In 1946 he received the title of associate professor of social pathology. In 1951 he accepted a position at the Slovak Medical University in Bratislava, where he treated tuberculous patients. He started preventative medicine in Slovakia. He retired in 1954. In the 1980s three of his plays were adapted to made-for-television movies.