Gheorghe Macovei (September 25, 1880–May 31, 1969) was a

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

n geologist. Born in Tansa,

Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a c ...

, he attended primary school in his native village, where his father was a teacher. He graduated from the National College in 1899 and from the science faculty of the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University ( Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia M ...

in 1905,Ionel Maftei, ''Personalități ieșene'', p. 349. Iași: Comitetul de cultură și educație socialistă al județului Iași, 1972 where his mentor was Ion Th. Simionescu.Ion Văduva-Poenaru, ''Enciclopedia marilor personalități'', p. 293. Bucharest: Editura Geneze, 2000. He then worked as an assistant in the geology and paleontology laboratory, beginning field studies in

Bahna BAHNA is a regular no-fee public presentation of the Army of the Czech Republic in military training ground ''Zadní Bahna'' near Strašice in Plzeň Region, the Czech Republic. Its purpose is to promote the armed forces, to show military techno ...

and Broșteni. In 1908, he was an intern at the

Vienna Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum Vienna (german: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most important natural history museums worldwide. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museum ...

. He defended a doctoral thesis about the geology of the tertiary basin at Bahna in 1909. Macovei was then hired as assistant geologist at the Romanian Geological Institute in

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 ...

,Gheorghe Ivănuș, ''Istoria petrolului în România'', p. 238. Bucharest: Editura AGIR, 2004. working under

Ludovic Mrazek Ludovic Mrazec (July 17, 1867 in Craiova – June 9, 1944 in Bucharest) was a Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukra ...

, whom he had come to know while at Broșteni. From 1909 to 1911, he continued to specialize in biostratigraphy at laboratories in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, and

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, and on the steppes between the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

and the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

in 1913. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he undertook geological studies in the

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

region, seeking to provide mineral raw materials for the economy and the populace. In 1919, he was named professor of geology and paleontology at the mines and metallurgy faculty of the Polytechnic School of Bucharest. While there, he taught courses on general geology, stratigraphy, paleontology and petroleum geology; his research focused on these fields, as well as tectonics and coal. After studying Miocene layers, he shifted toward the Cretaceous, first in

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...

and then in the eastern Carpathian Mountains. These studies were synthesized in a large 1934 monograph about the Cretaceous in Romania. In 1938, he published a groundbreaking study about the formation of petroleum reserves in Romania; Macovei firmly believed that petroleum was organic in origin. He was director of the geological institute from 1931 to 1960. As such, he discovered and suggested uses for several deposits of minerals useful to the national economy. Elected a corresponding member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

in 1931, Macovei was elevated to titular status in 1939. In 1961, the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

awarded him the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, first class.Cristian Vasile, ''Politicile culturale comuniste in timpul regimului Gheorghiu-Dej'', pp. 81-82. Bucharest: Editura Humanitas, 2013.

Notes

External links

Romanian Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macovei, Gheorghe 1880 births 1969 deaths People from Iași County Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Bucharest Titular members of the Romanian Academy Romanian geologists Romanian paleontologists Petroleum geologists 20th-century geologists Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic