Petrache Poenaru (; 10 January 1799 – 2 October 1875) 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
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 ...
of the
Enlightenment era.
Poenaru, who had studied in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and, later, completed his specialized studies in England, was a
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
,
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
,
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
,
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 ...
, teacher and organizer of the educational system, as well as a politician, agronomist, and zootechnologist, founder of the
Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a membe ...
, the
Botanical Gardens
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
and the National Museum of Antiquities 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 ...
.
While a student in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Petrache Poenaru invented the world's first
fountain pen
A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an inkw ...
, an invention for which the
French Government
The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
issued a patent on 25 May 1827.
Biography
He was born in 1799 in
Benești,
Vâlcea County
Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county ( județ) of Romania. Located in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt River), it is also part of the wider Wallachia region. Its capital city is Râm ...
, in the northwestern part of
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
. His uncle, Iordache Otetelişanu, was one of the promoters of an institutionalized educational system, in a time when a great part of the population was illiterate. Poenaru attended the secondary school Obedeanu in Craiova and worked as a copyist at the office of the bishop of
Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea (also spelled ''Rîmnicu Vîlcea'' or, in the past, ''Rîmnic-Vâlcea'', ) (population: 92,573 as per the 2011 Romanian census) is the county capital ( ro, Reședință de județ) and also the largest town of Vâlcea County, cent ...
. Later on, between 1820 and 1821, he taught
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
at the Metropolitan School in Bucharest.
In 1821, the Revolution led by
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu (; c. 1780 – ) was a Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri (''Tudor from Vladimiri'') or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudo ...
began. At that time, Wallachia was under
Ottoman domination and was ruled by the
Phanariots
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumeni ...
(Greeks originating from
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
and very loyal to the
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
), who burdened the country with numerous taxes and an expensive and corrupt court. Tudor Vladimirescu gathered an army of
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
n soldiers called ''
panduri
The panduri ( ka, ფანდური) is a
traditional Georgian three-string plucked instrument common in all regions of Eastern Georgia: such as Pshav- Khevsureti, Tusheti, Kakheti and Kartli. The panduri is generally used to accompany s ...
'' and moved towards Bucharest to overthrow them. He was joined by many and, among them, was the young Petrache Poenaru. During his first skirmish, he proved he didn’t have any fighting abilities and his comrades took him in front of the revolution’s leader, for punishment. But Vladimirescu was impressed by the young man’s educated spirit and sharp mind and made him his personal assistant. From this position, he elaborated the army’s manifesto, now considered one of the first Romanian newspapers.
Poenaru was lucky enough not to be around Tudor Vladimirescu when the leader was lured in a trap and assassinated, as he was sent in a diplomatic mission to advocate the Romanian cause to the representatives of the great powers,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
or
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. After news of Vladimirescu’s death spread, he took refuge in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
.
When the political situation improved, he was able to earn a scholarship to study in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, in 1822. There, he learnt about measuring tools and micrometers, unknown to the underdeveloped Romanian engineering field and discovered a great appetite for technical sciences, while also fervently studying
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
French,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. In a letter sent to his family, he confessed that he thought the sweetest pleasure a man can experience is learning.
In 1824, the Wallachian ruler
Grigore Ghica granted him another scholarship, which compelled Poenaru to return to the country after the studies ended and share his acquired knowledge as a teacher.
Poenaru's fountain pen
![Stamps of Romania, 2010-78](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Stamps_of_Romania%2C_2010-78.jpg)
In 1826 he went to France and attended the
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in Paris, where he studied
geodesy
Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...
and
surveying
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
. He was so busy taking notes and copying courses, that he invented a fountain pen that used a swan's quill as an ink reservoir. On 25 May 1827, the Manufacture Department of the French Ministry of the Interior registered Poenaru’s invention with the code number 3208 and the description ''"plume portable sans fin, qui s’alimente elle-meme avec de l’ancre"'' ("never-ending portable pen, which recharges itself with ink").
In 2010
Poșta Română
CN Poșta Română SA is the national operator in the field of postal services in Romania. It is the sole supplier of universal service in any point on the Romanian territory.
Poșta Română is active on the free market of value added postal ...
issued a 5
lei stamp depicting Poenaru next to his fountain pen project.
The
Petrache Poenaru metro station
Petrache Poenaru, formerly known as ''Semănătoarea'' is a metro station in Bucharest, Romania, servicing the Bucharest Metro Bucharest Metro Line M1, Line M1. It was named after Semănătoarea, an agricultural machinery factory located in the ...
in Bucharest is named in his honor.
Gallery
File:Petrache Poenaru - Foto01.jpg, Petrache Poenaru- by Constantin Lecca
Constantin Lecca (; 4 August 1807 – 13 October 1887) was a Romanian painter and art professor. He was the first Romanian artist to create Western-style religious paintings. Although he worked in a variety of genres, including history painting, ...
File:Constantin Lecca - Portretul Eufrosinei Poenaru.jpg, Eufrosina Poenaru - by Constantin Lecca
File:Constantin Lecca - Portretul Caliopei Poenaru.jpg, Caliope Poenaru - by Constantin Lecca
File:Constantin Lecca - Petrache Poenaru.jpg, Petrache Poenaru - by Constantin Lecca
References
External links
* http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/wipo_magazine/en/pdf/2006/wipo_pub_121_2006_01-02.pdf
* https://www.bestfountainpen.com/who-invented-the-fountain-pen
* http://gopens.com/Pen-Blog/who-invented-the-fountain-pen/
* https://web.archive.org/web/20160923100320/http://nomber.one/10-is/17-who-invented-first-the-pen-petrache-poenaru#sthash.8jMbac93.dpbs
* http://www.vogue.it/en/encyclo/fashion/s/fountain-pen
* https://web.archive.org/web/20180525153429/http://www.wonderful-romania.com/index.php/component/k2/item/45-petrache-poenaru-the-romanian-outlaw-who-invented-the-first-modern-fountain-pen
* http://www.en.biography.name/inventors/96-romania/146-petrache-poenaru-1799-1875
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poenaru, Petrache
Romanian inventors
Romanian schoolteachers
Romanian scientists
Carol I National College alumni
Titular members of the Romanian Academy
People from Vâlcea County
Hajduks
1799 births
1885 deaths