Victor Vâlcovici ( – 21 June 1970) was a

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

n mechanician and mathematician.

Biography

Born into a modest family in

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

, he graduated first in his class in 1904 from Nicolae Bălcescu High School in

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

. Entering the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

on a scholarship, he attended its faculty of sciences, where he had as teachers

Spiru Haret Spiru C. Haret (; 15 February 1851 – 17 December 1912) was a Romanian mathematician, astronomer, and politician. He made a fundamental contribution to the ''n''-body problem in celestial mechanics by proving that using a third degree approx ...

and

Gheorghe Țițeica Gheorghe Țițeica (; 4 October 1873 – 5 February 1939) publishing as George or Georges Tzitzéica) was a Romanian mathematician who made important contributions in geometry. He is recognized as the founder of the Romanian school of differential ...

. After graduating in 1907 with a degree in mathematics, he taught high school for two years before leaving for

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

on another scholarship to pursue a doctorate in mathematics. He wrote his thesis under the direction of

Ludwig Prandtl Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German Fluid mechanics, fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlyin ...

and defended it in 1913; the thesis, titled ''Ueber die diskontinuierliche Flussigkeitsbewegungen mit zwei freien Strahlen'' (Discontinuous flow of liquids in two free dimensions), amplified upon the work of

Bernhard Riemann Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (; ; 17September 182620July 1866) was a German mathematician who made profound contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the f ...

. He was subsequently named assistant professor of mechanics at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...

, rising to full professor in 1918.Otlăcan, p. 127 In 1921, he became rector of the Polytechnic School of Timișoara. There, he was also professor of rational mechanics and founded a laboratory dedicated to the field. During his nine years as rector, he worked to place the recently founded university on a solid foundation. From 1930 until retiring in 1962, he taught experimental mechanics at the University of Bucharest. In the government of

Nicolae Iorga Nicolae Iorga (17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet and playwright. Co-founder (in 1910) of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PND), he served as a member of Parliament ...

, he served as

Minister of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

from 1931 to 1932. During this time, he introduced a modern road network that featured paved highways.Hager, p. 1361 In 1936 he gave an invited talk at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, with title ''Sur le sillage derrière un obstacle circulaire'' (In the wake of a circular obstacle). Elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1936, he was stripped of his membership by the new

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

in 1948, but made a titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) 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 bylaws, the academy's ma ...

in 1965. His numerous articles on theoretical and applied mechanics covered topics such as the principles of variational mechanics, the mechanics of ideal fluid flow, the theory of elasticity and astronomy. He died in 1970 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, and was buried in the city's

Bellu Cemetery Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania. It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. T ...

. Streets have been named after Victor Vâlcovici in

, and

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

; a school in Galați also bears his name.

Books

* *

Notes

References

*Willi Hager, ''Hydraulicians in Europe (1800–2000)'', vol. 2. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 2009. * Eufrosina Otlăcan
"Victor Vâlcovici (1885–1970) – savant și desăvârșit pedagog"
NOEMA, vol. VI, 2007, pp. 124–29

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valcovici, Victor 1885 births 1970 deaths People from Galați University of Bucharest alumni Mechanical engineers 20th-century Romanian mathematicians Romanian schoolteachers Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Timișoara Rectors of Politehnica University of Timișoara Titular members of the Romanian Academy Ministers of justice of Romania Ministers of public works of Romania Ministers of communications of Romania Ministers of transport of Romania Members of the Romanian Academy of Sciences Aerodynamicists Burials at Bellu Cemetery Fluid dynamicists