Who invented the original Rubik’s Cube in 1974?

Ernő Rubik invented the original Rubik’s Cube in 1974.

Rubik was a Hungarian architect and professor of architecture who created the puzzle while exploring a model that could help students understand three-dimensional movement. He initially called it the Magic Cube, or Bűvös Kocka in Hungarian.

The cube consists of smaller coloured cubes arranged around a central mechanism, allowing each layer to rotate while the overall shape remains intact. Rubik received a Hungarian patent in 1975, and the puzzle was licensed internationally under the name Rubik’s Cube from 1980.

The toy became a worldwide phenomenon during the 1980s and later experienced renewed popularity through speedcubing and online communities. The standard cube has six faces and 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible configurations. Its inventor did not solve it instantly; Rubik has said that solving his first prototype took about a month.