Gheorghe Spacu (December 5, 1883 – July 23, 1955) 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 ...
n inorganic chemist.
Born in
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
, he attended the city's
National College from 1894 to 1901. He subsequently enrolled in the physics and chemistry section of the sciences faculty at 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 Mih ...
. There, his professors included
Petru Poni
Petru Poni (4 January 1841 – 2 April 1925) was a Moldavian (later Romanian) chemist and mineralogist.
Born into a family of ''răzeși'' (free peasants) in Săcărești, Iași County, he attended primary school in Târgu Frumos. In 1852, he enro ...
(inorganic chemistry),
Vasile Buțureanu (mineralogy and crystallography),
Anastasie Obregia (organic chemistry) and
Dragomir Hurmuzescu
Dragomir M. Hurmuzescu (13 March 1865, in Bucharest – 31 May 1954, in Bucharest) was a Romanian physicist and inventor, teacher at the University of Iași and the University of Bucharest, and a correspondent member at the Romanian Academy.
He i ...
(electrochemistry). Upon graduating in 1905, he went to deepen his studies at the universities of
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 ...
and then
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. He returned in 1907, when he began working as an assistant in the inorganic chemistry laboratory of
Neculai Costăchescu, and was promoted to head of operations in 1916. That year, he received a doctorate in chemistry, having submitted a thesis on iron compounds. After Costăchescu, he was the second individual to receive a doctorate in chemistry from a Romanian university. Subsequently, he was named associate professor at Iași University.
[Scăețeanu, Pele, p. 348]
In 1919, following the
union of Transylvania with Romania
The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a national holiday in Romani ...
and the establishment of the
University of Cluj, he was invited to teach as associate professor of inorganic and analytic chemistry. He was promoted to full professor in 1922. While at
Cluj
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status
, subdivision_name2 ...
, he put together a school of chemistry, founding and supplying laboratories for students and researches and advising sixteen doctoral students. Among those he trained were
Raluca Ripan
Raluca Ripan (27 June 1894 – 5 December 1972) was a Romanian chemist, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy. She wrote many treatises, especially in the field of analytical chemistry.
Biography
She was born in Iași, in the Moldavia reg ...
,
Ilie G. Murgulescu,
Petru Spacu and
Coriolan Drăgulescu. Petru, his only son, worked in his father's department after obtaining a doctorate, later moving to
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 ...
. Of Gheorghe Spacu's 274 scientific articles, around two-thirds were written while he was at Cluj. These were generally published in the bulletin of the local scientific society, of which he was a founding member in 1921.
He was 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 1927, and was promoted to titular member in 1935.
[Scăețeanu, Pele, p. 349] He was assistant dean of the science faculty in 1923–1924, dean in 1924–1925, rector of the university in 1925–1926 and assistant rector in 1926–1927.
[Stănescu ''et al.'', p. 369]
In 1939, he was asked to join the inorganic and analytic chemistry department of the
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
, where he began work in October 1940. As before, he focused on establishing laboratories and training chemists.
Maria Brezeanu was one of his doctoral students. During his Bucharest period, his work appeared in the bulletin of the Academy's scientific section. He received three awards from the
communist authorities: the state prize (1952 and 1954) and the order of labor (1953). He continued working until his death in 1955.
Notes
References
* Gina Scăețeanu, Maria Pele
"Gheorghe Spacu – maestru al chimiei coordinative și analitice" in ''Studii și comunicări'', Comitetul Român de Istoria și Filosofia Științei și Tehnicii, vol. VI/2013, p. 347-51
* Mihai Stănescu, Corina-Cristina Aramă, Adriana-Elena Tăerel
"Academicianul Gheorghe Spacu și impactul său asupra chimiei analitice" in ''Studii și comunicări'', Comitetul Român de Istoria și Filosofia Științei și Tehnicii, vol. VI/2013, p. 367-79
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spacu, Gheorghe
1883 births
1955 deaths
Scientists from Iași
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni
Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
Academic staff of Babeș-Bolyai University
Rectors of Babeș-Bolyai University
Academic staff of the University of Bucharest
Titular members of the Romanian Academy
Romanian chemists
Inorganic chemists
Members of the Romanian Academy of Sciences