Liviu Constantinescu (26 November 1914 – 29 November 1997) 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 geophysicist, professor of

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

, member of the Romanian Academy. He was the cofounder, together with Sabba S. Ștefănescu, of the Romanian school of geophysics.

Biography

Born into an old family of Christian Orthodox

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

s from

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

, Liviu Constantinescu ignored suggestions from family and teachers to become an engineer or teacher and decided to study

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

. He earned a master's degree in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

(1935) and a doctor's degree in physics (1941) from 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 ...

. After a few years as teaching assistant at the Department of Sciences of his ''alma mater'' (1937–1943), he was appointed director of the newly founded ''Geophysical Observatory Surlari'', named today ''National Geomagnetic Observatory Surlari "Liviu Constantinescu"'' (1943–1958); this started his career as a geophysicist. He was appointed professor (1949–1975) at a newly created Department of Geophysics, led by Ștefănescu and later by Constantinescu himself; in parallel, he directed geophysical research at various institutes of

earth sciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four sphere ...

of the Romanian Academy (1959–1970). Discriminated politically for his repeated refusal to join the ruling

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, he was forced into early retirement at age 60 (1975); he came back after the fall of the dictatorship, fifteen years later. In 1990 he was elected full member of the Romanian Academy (he had been a corresponding member since 1963) and president of its Section of Geonomic Sciences (1990–1994). Until his definitive retirement (1995), he devoted himself to rebuilding the Romanian Academy and the geophysical institutions in Romania; he was president of the Romanian National Committee of Geodesy and Geophysics and of the Romanian Society of Geophysics. Constantinescu has made important contributions to several domains of pure and applied geophysics: geomagnetism (normal distribution and secular variation of the main geomagnetic field, general morphology and particularities of magnetic perturbations,

magnetotellurics Magnetotellurics (MT) is an electromagnetic geophysical method for inferring the earth's subsurface electrical conductivity from measurements of natural geomagnetic and geoelectric field variation at the Earth's surface. Investigation depth ran ...

); handling and interpretation of

gravimetric Gravimetry is the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field. Gravimetry may be used when either the magnitude of a gravitational field or the properties of matter responsible for its creation are of interest. Units of measurement Gr ...

and magnetometric data (analytic continuation of potential fields, effects of

Earth tides Earth tide (also known as solid Earth tide, crustal tide, body tide, bodily tide or land tide) is the displacement of the solid earth's surface caused by the gravity of the Moon and Sun. Its main component has meter-level amplitude at periods of a ...

, time variation of the

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

field);

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

and

tectonophysics Tectonophysics, a branch of geophysics, is the study of the physical processes that underlie tectonic deformation. The field encompasses the spatial patterns of stress, strain, and differing rheologies in the lithosphere and asthenosphere of the ...

(

focal mechanism The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the deformation in the source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a fault-related event it refers to the orientation of the fault plane that slipped and the slip vector and is ...

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s, seismicity and

seismotectonics Seismotectonics is the study of the relationship between the earthquakes, active tectonics and individual faults of a region. It seeks to understand which faults are responsible for seismic activity in an area by analysing a combination of region ...

Carpathian The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

earthquakes, and seismicity of the Romanian territory). He was member of the study group on ''Seismic methods for monitoring underground explosions'' at the

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade as well a ...

(SIPRI) (1968–1970); member and vice-president of the coordination committee of the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

project for the study of the seismicity of the

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

region (1970–1977). He held important positions in international scientific organizations: vice-president of the

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG; french: Union géodésique et géophysique internationale, UGGI) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment usi ...

(IUGG) (1969–1971) and member of the Bureau of IUGG (1967–1975); member of the governing council of the International Seismological Centre (1970–1974) and of the council of the

European Geophysical Society The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has headq ...

(1970–1975); vice-president of the European Seismological Commission (1972–1976). An academic equally familiar with natural sciences and humanities, Constantinescu was a teacher for many. For 25 years, he gave lectures on geomagnetism and magnetic prospecting, gravimetry and gravimetric prospecting, radioactive prospecting, and seismology. He was editor and coauthor of the textbook ''Exploration Geophysics'' ''(Prospecțiuni geofizice)'' (1964–1965); he wrote the section ''The Earth (Terra)'' of the Italian ''Enciclopedia del Novecento'' (1975–1990).

References

* Liviu Constantinescu
'' Mesaje ale Pământului în descifrări actuale''
(Messages of the Earth in Actual Decodings), Editura Ştiințifică, București, 1974. * Liviu Constantinescu
''Sinergismul în cercetările geonomice''
(Synergism in Geonomical Research), Editura Academiei Române, București, 1992. * M. Visarion
''Liviu Constantinescu, omul şi opera''
(Liviu Constantinescu, the Man and His Work), Academica, Nr.32 (169), November 2004. * Andrei Alexandru Soare
''Profesorul Liviu Constantinescu, întemeietorul Observatorului Geofizic Surlari''
(Professor Liviu Constantinescu, Founder of the Geophysical Observatory Surlari), Academica, Nr.32 (169), November 2004. * Dorina N. Rusu: ''Membrii Academiei Române – Dicționar'' (The Members of the Romanian Academy – Dictionary), Editura Enciclopedică / Editura Academiei Române, București, 2003.

External links

Academia Română
/

(National Geomagnetic Observatory Surlari "Liviu Constantinescu")
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG)International Seismological Centre (ISC)European Geophysical Society (EGS) / European Geosciences Union (EGU)European Seismological Commission (ESC)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantinescu, Liviu 1914 births 1997 deaths People from Sibiu County Romanian geophysicists Titular members of the Romanian Academy