Great Romanians.... Never thought there were any, did you?

[Aphex_Twin]

Here goes (not in the order of importance):

Mircea cel Batran (the elder) - creator of the Romanian state of Tara Romaneasca. Defeated the Ottomans and Hungarians.

Stefan cel Mare (the Great) - defeated several attempts by the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Empire to take over eastern Europe. The west would have crumbled if not for his resistance.

Iancu of Hunedoara - leader of the romanian state of Transilvania, governor of Hungary for a period. Artisan of some of the greatest defeats of the Ottoman Empire, greatly helping in it's downfall ( Belgrade, Kossovopolje, ... )

King Carol I - Allthough a man of German origin, he accepted to enter WW1 on the side of the Allies. Kept the Eastern Front active and gave the French a vital resting space...

King Mihai I (Michael) - Romanian sovereign during WW2. Took the reign of powers from a German appointed dictator and turned the weapons against Hitler. Effectively shortened WW2 in Europe by 6 months...

Traian Vuia - first to fly a heavier than air machine without outside facilities (i.e. catapult, like the Wright Brothers)

Henry Coanda - the inventor of the jet engine and the air foil (the "Coanda effect")

Elie Carafoli and Ion Stroescu - invented the wind tunnel; helped develop the delta wing for supersonic aircraft

Emil Racovita - the creator of the science of speology (study of caves); underwent several scientific expeditions in the Antarctic region;

Grigore Antipa - he invented the "diorama" (the species are presented in close interdependence with the environment and with the other species they live in association with) ; also a great zoologist, oceanologist and ecologist

Nicolae Paulescu - the (true) inventor of Penicillin. He was only recently recognised by the international community, but still robbed of a Nobel Prize; great doctor and physiologist.

George Emil Palade - 1974 Nobel Laureate in Medicine for discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell

Mircea Eliade - greatest historian of religions of all time; writer, philosopher...


This is a small list, made in a haste, but revealing... (I should make time to post an adequate message in the History forum)


What do you think?

 

[amadeus]

Henri Coanda and Elie Weisel, whom was omitted from your list...

Just wondering, was he an ethnic Hungarian or was he actually Romanian?

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Yes, he is actually Romanian... the son of Constantin Coanda.

check this English language link:

http://www.deltawing.go.ro/history/coanda.htm

 

[amadeus]

I was talking about Weisel, since he was born in Transylvania.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

I think we can claim him as a Romanian (making him second to get a Nobel Prize), but not ethnic, since he's Jewish... Elie Wiesel is Romanian probably as much Isaac Asimov is Russian.

BTW... Where are you from rmsharpe?

 

[amadeus]

Minneapolis, U.S.

 

[Johann MacLeod]

Stefan cel Mare, since he's the only one I've heard of, my friends cousins were working in Romania and Moldavia recently for the peace core i think, so i learned a lot about Romania, lol its the only eastern European romance language.

 

[Ribannah]

How about the 19th century hero & martyr Nicolae Balcescu?

 

[Greadius]

No Dracula?

 

[Hitro]

No Gheorghe Hagi?

 

[Kublai-Khan]

WHERE IS ILLIE NASTASE??????????

 

[VetLegion]

Elie Carafoli and Ion Stroescu - invented the wind tunnel; helped develop the delta wing for supersonic aircraft

 

[VetLegion]

I am sorry, wrong quoting. Anyway, you are wrong on two things:

1. Wright brothers flew without catapult.

2. They made the first wind tunnel.

 

[Vrylakas]

It might surprise you to learn I do indeed know all of these, and more. No Nadia Comenici?

And to be fair, Iancu of Hunedoara was half Hungarian; "Hunyadi János".

 

[Pangur Bán]

What exactly is the question for the poll?

 

[The ANZAC]

no Ceausescu? *runs away from angry mob of Rumanians ready to lynch me*

 

[animepornstar]

romanians are quite short people, aren't they?

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Originally posted by The ANZAC
no Ceausescu? *runs away from angry mob of Rumanians ready to lynch me*

He didn't run fast enough

Kublai-Khan WHERE IS ILLIE NASTASE??????????

Yes, Ilie Nastase, Ion Tiriac (tennis);
Helmuth Ducadam, Gheorghe Hagi, Adrian Ilie, Georghe Popescu, Dan Petrescu, perhaps Adrian Mutu (football);
Lia Manoliu (kaiaking - never lost a race);
Gabriela Szabo and Gabriela Beclea Szekely (athletism);
Nadia Comaneci, Lavinia Molosevici, (the names slip out of my mind);
Diana Mocanu (swimming)...

all are great sportsmen.

Unfortunately, sportsmen have little impact in history...

I am sorry, wrong quoting. Anyway, you are wrong on two things:

1. Wright brothers flew without catapult.

2. They made the first wind tunnel.

1. They flew without catapult, but after the flight of Traian Vuia.

2. I checked it up. Seems that you are right. Carafoli and Stroescu developed the initial patent for what you would recognize today as a wind tunnel.

romanians are quite short people, aren't they?

Is that picture from the 1994 World Cup?
And are you from Sweeden?

 

[Pangur Bán]

Originally posted by calgacus
What exactly is the question for the poll?

What exactly is the question for the poll?

 

[VetLegion]

[q]1. They flew without catapult, but after the flight of Traian Vuia.[/q]

This seems to be the plane

He took off first time in 1906, three years after the Wright borthers. From what little I read on the web his contribution to aviation seems minor.

However, he seems to have made quite a big improvement on a contemporary steam engine :b: