Radio România Internațional

Tag: names

  • Inter-war botanist Alexandru Borza

    Inter-war botanist Alexandru Borza

    Nature has been viewed, in the past
    two and a half centuries, as the cradle of humankind, of the individual human
    being, of their families and of the nation. Nature has become a cult of the modern
    man; therefore, plants, animals, air, water or stones have also become an
    object of study for naturalists. In
    Romania, priest Alexandru Borza was one of the most important botanists. He was
    born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1887 and died in Romania in 1971, at the
    age of 84.


    Borza’s educational background was a little bit unusual
    for a scientist. Borza graduated from a Catholic theological seminary, then he
    pursued a university program
    with the Faculty of Sciences in Budapest. At the age of 26, Borza earned his
    doctoral degree in natural sciences, in 1913. Until 1918, when the Romanian-inhabited
    territories that had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were included in then
    the Kingdom of Romania, Borza was a teacher of natural sciences with the boys’ high-school in Blaj. After 1918, Borza’s career became increasingly
    effervescent. Among other things, Borza was a rector of the University of Cluj,
    a director of the Cluj Botanical gardens and a scientific director of the Nature
    Monuments Commission. Alexandru Borza discovered more than 80 species of plants,
    while other 20 were named in his honor. Alexandru Borza published around
    500 texts and an ethnobotanic dictionary of Romania, with 11 common names for 2,
    095 species of plants and also supervised the issuing of nine scientific periodicals.
    Alexandru Borza was involved in strong awareness-raising campaigns regarding
    the importance of nature in people’s lives through the articles he contributed
    to the printed press, through pamphlets, public or radio-broadcast conferences.
    Borza also made a leap forward, from the research of nature to the anthropological-folkloric
    and eugenic research.


    The fact that the Romanian
    specialists participated in the Fourth Botany Congress in New York, in 1926,
    gave them an impetus in their involvement in the defense of the environment. Here
    is the historian Cosmin Koszor-Codrea explaining how the American model also
    inspired the Romanians in their subsequent undertakings:

    In 1926, the 4th International Botanical Congress
    was held in New York, which gathered botanists from around the world. Borza was
    also present and delivered a paper on insular flowers in the ecology section. Beside
    the daily presentation sessions, the daily agenda included visits to the botanical
    garden, excursions to the natural division of the Yellowstone natural park,
    Niagara Falls and Rocky Mountains. After he returned to Romania he planned,
    together with the zoologist Popovici-Dimbosanu the first Romanian National
    Congress of Naturists, to be held in Cluj, in 1928. Here they gathered, on the
    same agenda, secondary school teachers, representatives of Hungarian, Romanian,
    and German alpine associations, officials and living scientists of the period.
    Amongst their aims there were many resolutions, the participants pushed forward
    on the political agenda the reorganization of the natural history teaching
    program in secondary schools, the recognition of the fact that the Danube Delta
    is an ecological region, a region rich in bird species, and that the Retezat
    Mountains should become a national park.


    The following steps were the logical consequences of
    the assumed objectives. With details on that, here is Cosmin Koszor-Codrea once again:


    The Ministry of Agriculture and Domains, based on
    their proposals, enacted in 1930 the Law of the protection of natural monuments.
    The following year, the Royal Decree officially recognized the existence of the
    Commission of Natural Monuments. In doing so, the law written by the commission
    defined the following, QUOTE, the monuments of nature are those lands which,
    due to the inhabitancy of animals and plants, have a special scientific and aesthetical
    importance, as well as those which, through their natural beauty, scientific
    interest, are meaning to be conserved and passed over to posterity. Within the
    protection law fall also animals and plant species, as well as rocks, minerals
    and fossils, UNQUOTE.


    The history of the Retezat Nature Park,
    founded in 1935, is proudly linked to the name of Alexandru Borza. There the preservation
    of nature was taken to its highest, thanks to the involvement of the state and
    the regulations that were put in place. In 1939, in The Carpathians magazine,
    Borza published a list of 17 protected plant species. Among them, the
    rhododendron, the Edelweiss and the white Egyptian lotus. Cosmin Koszor-Codrea told
    us the ecologists focused on the Retezat
    Massif the right from the
    start.


    The first region that matched this definition was the Retezat
    Mountains, due to its unique geological formation, its fauna and flora, as well
    as the answer it gave to the Romanian national identity. In the words of Borza,
    QUOTE, The Retezat is, from all points of view, a holy land for science, is a sacred
    monument of nature that has no comparison to other massifs in Romania. That is
    why all our naturalists are considering it predestined by nature to become our
    natural park, the Yellowstone of Romania. Here the young will carry the patriotic
    education, they will feel in these mountains the air of freedom, that as
    inherited by the Dacian king Decebalus, while it will feed their hearts with
    pride by knowing this piece of land as something unique, in its own way, as a
    symbol of our natural health, UNQUOTE.


    Alexandru Borza was one of the most
    prominent names of environment protection in inter-war Romania. Borza was also
    one of the scientists who supported the necessity of Romanians’ being taught
    basic natural history notions as part of the Romanian nation’s specific characteristics.



  • Romanian names in the solar system

    Romanian names in the solar system

    Romanian names have been given to objects from our solar system, 13 of which to objects from planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Moon, the Earth’s natural satellite. 11 names were given to craters, 1 to a mountain range and 1 to a valley. 27 asteroids bear Romanian people’s names and another 6 were named after Romanian toponyms. Also, 3 comets have Romanian names.



    The first Romanian toponym was given to a mountain range on the Moon in 1961, which was called Montes Carpatus, after the Carpathian Mountains — Carpati in Romanian. The name Carpati comes from ‘carpi’, the word for the ancient Geto-Dacian tribes, the ancestors of the Romanian people. The first Romanian name was given to a space object in 1970 in memory of the mathematician and astronomer Spiru C. Haret (1852-1912) who was a Liberal minister of education. Astronomer Magda Stavinschi, a former director of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, explained the circumstances in which Romanian names of persons and places were given to celestial bodies in our solar system:



    Magda Stavinschi: “There is a nomenclature established by the International Astronomical Union aimed at honoring the world’s greatest people both on Earth and in the Universe. Romania was included rather late on this sky map. The first Romanian personality, whom we, astronomers, had expected to be honored on the celestial sphere, was Spiru Haret. His name was given to a crater on the far side of the Moon at the time when that part of the moon was mapped. Many people know Spiru Haret as a former education minister of Romania and maybe the most outstanding minister Romania has ever had, but he was also passionate about astronomy, he was the first Romanian to get a PhD in astronomy, in celestial mechanics in Sorbonne. His achievements were remarkable and appreciated by the whole world.”



    The first asteroid that received a Romanian name had initially been identified by a number: 2331. It was then named after professor and astronomer Constantin Pârvulescu, a highly respected personality in the field of space research. The asteroid was discovered in 1936 by Belgian astronomer Eugene-Joseph Delporte. The quasi-spherical asteroid has a diameter of 11 to 24 kms and revolves around the Sun once every 3.78 years, terrestrial time. 140 million kms was the closest distance within which the asteroid came to the Earth.



    Magda Stavinschi: “Another interesting personality whose name was given to an asteroid was Constantin Pârvulescu. Due to an unhappy coincidence with the name of a dissident from the Ceausescu regime, we were not allowed to pronounce his name. Pârvulescu worked in Brussels for a while and it was the Belgians who gave his name to the asteroid. Pârvulescu was seen as one of the most important astrophysicists of his time. Unfortunately, this name coincidence prevented Constantin Pârvulescu from being known to the Romanians.”



    Space objects also received Romanian women’s names. Craters from planet Venus were named Veta, Irinuca, Natalia, Zina or Esterica.



    Magda Stavinschi: “At a certain moment, names were given to objects on planet Venus. We were asked to come up with proposals for names. At the time, I was the director of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy. The name of Elena Văcărescu was accepted, maybe because she was known to the French and the international community more than other Romanian personalities. We made several proposals such as Ella Marcus, a great Romanian astronomer, names of pianists, Ana Aslan and many others.”



    According to Magda Stavinschi, the number of newly-discovered celestial objects increased, hence a higher demand for names of personalities. Therefore names of regular persons started being given to celestial objects.



    Magda Stavinschi: “At present, there are many asteroids, so the nomenclature has been changed. Until recently, we have given asteroids the names of deceased persons, but now some people are buying such names. The names of personalities are starting to lose ground. We have tried to continue to promote the names of Brancusi, Enescu, Eminescu, of astronomer Gheorghe Demetrescu and professor Ban from Cluj, to be given to asteroids. Probably we’ll have more and more Romanian names on the celestial sphere. But these were the first Romanian names that will remain, I hope, in the history and civilization of Romania and the world.”



    The name of Romania’s greatest poet Mihai Eminescu was given to an asteroid identified with the number 9495 and to a crater on planet Mercury.



    Magda Stavinschi: “Asteroids are also known as small planets that move between the orbits of Mercury and Jupiter. At present, there are thousands of planets that have a name and soon the planets outside the Solar System will also be named.”


    (translated by: Lacramioara Simion)