Alexandru N. Ciurcu (29 January 1854, Şercaia – 22 January 1922,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, known for his invention with the French journalist of a

reaction engine A reaction engine is an engine or motor that produces thrust by expelling reaction mass, in accordance with Newton's third law of motion. This law of motion is commonly paraphrased as: "For every action force there is an equal, but opposite, rea ...

. It used

rocket propulsion A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

and was briefly used to power a boat, demonstrated on 13 August 1886. The two men envisioned that such motors would later be used for air travel. Ciurcu accident

On 16 December 1886, during a test with a new second engine for the boat at Asnières, the engine exploded. Just Buisson and an assistant at the helm were killed. Ciurcu survived by swimming ashore, but at first was accused of murder.

Origin

One of his cousins was the doctor Sterie N. Ciurcu, who obtained his doctorate in 1877 in Vienna and who worked in Vienna since 1886. A recognized militant for the national cause of the Romanians in the empire and editor of some Romanian magazines , was imprisoned by the Habsburg authorities in 1916, when Romania entered the war, and died in prison. He was decorated with the

Order of the Crown (Romania) The Order of the Crown of Romania is a chivalric order set up on 14 March 1881 by King Carol I of Romania to commemorate the establishment of the Kingdom of Romania. It was awarded as a state order until the end of the Romanian monarchy in 1947. ...

Education

Alexandru Ciurcu attended high school in Brașov, taking his baccalaureate in 1872. He studied law at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, between 1873 and 1876. In parallel, Alexandru Ciurcu also attended technical courses.

References

Romanian inventors Romanian scientists 1854 births 1922 deaths {{Romania-scientist-stub