Science in Romania

During the last centuries many scientists and inventors made our country well known abroad. The most important Romanian discoveries were made after the second half of the nineteenth century. We have some firsts in the aircraft history, a lot of important discoveries in medicine, biology, chemistry and physics, and inportant inventions are related to our country’s name.

INVENTORS and SCIENTISTS On March 18th 1906 Traian Vuia (1872-1950) said he had achieved a short hop at a height of about 1 foot. His flight was performed in Montesson near Paris and was about 12 m long. TRAIAN VUIA THE FIRST PLANE

He discovered the Coandă effect of fluids. Henri Coandă (1886-1972) was another Romanian inventor and pioneer of aviation. He exhibited the non-flying Coanda-1910 at the Second International Aeronautical Exhibition in Paris in October 1910, and built his first flying aircraft in 1911. He discovered the Coandă effect of fluids. HENRI COANDĂ THE FIRST AIRCRAFT

Petrache Poenaru (1799–1875) was a Romanian inventor of the Enlightenment era. He invented the world’s first fountain pen, an invention for which the French Government issued a patent on 25th May 1827. PETRACHE POENARU Nicolae Paulescu (1869-1931) was a Romanian physiologist, professor of medicine, the discoverer of pancreatin, later called insulin. NICOLAE PAULESCU

A Romanian-born, cell biologist, George Emil Palade (1912-2008) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1974 for his study of internal organization of such cell structures as mitochondria, chloroplasts, the Golgi apparatus, and for the discovery of the ribosomes. He also won the National Medal for Science in 1986. GEORGE EMIL PALADE CHLOROPLASTS

Ştefan Odobleja (1902–1978 ) was a Romanian scientist, one of the precursors of cybernetics. His major work, Psychologie consonantiste (in French), first published in 1938, in Paris, had established many of the major themes of cybernetics and systems thinking. ŞTEFAN ODOBLEJA Other important inventors and scientists are: Horia Hulubei in atomic physics; Șerban Țițeica in theoretical physics; Mihai Gavrilă in quantum theory; Ştefan Procopiu known for the first theory of the magnetic moment of the electron in 1911; Mircea Sabău and Florentina I. Mosora known for their contributions to Nuclear Medicine; Ana Aslan who discovered the anti-aging effects of procaine and the list could continue.

One of the notable days for Romania is May 14th 1981 because it became the 11th country in the world to have an astronaut in space. Dumitru Prunariu is now the president of the Romanian Space Agency. Now Romania is reported to be among the countries with the highest number of computer programmers in the world. Some examples of successful software include RAV (Romanian AntiVirus) which was bought in 2003 by Microsoft for use in their development of Windows Defender.