Simion Mehedinți
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Simion Mehedinți (Romanian pronunciation: [simiˈon meheˈdint͡sʲ]; October 19, 1868 – December 14, 1962) was a Romanian geographer, the founding father of modern Romanian geography,[1][2] and a titular member of the Romanian Academy. A figure of importance in the Junimea literary club, he was for a while editor of its magazine, Convorbiri Literare, and became a supporter of the fascist Iron Guard.
He was born in Soveja, Vrancea County. After attending primary school in his native village, he went to study theology, first in Focșani, and then in Bucharest, where he graduated from high school in 1888. He then enrolled at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest, graduating with a B.A. thesis on "J.J. Rousseau’s ideas on education." He then pursued his studies in Paris, with Paul Vidal de la Blache, and at the University of Berlin, with Ferdinand von Richthofen. In 1895, Mehedinți transferred to Leipzig University, where he completed a Ph.D. degree in early 1899, with thesis "Über die Kartographische Induction" written under the direction of Friedrich Ratzel.[1]: 4 He then returned to Romania, where he was appointed professor at the University of Bucharest and head of the first geography department at that university.[3] He was a strong proponent of the geomorphology approach to geographic studies; his powerful position enabled him to impose this point of view on Romanian geography.[2]: 5–6
Mehedinți was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1908, and titular member in 1915.[4]: 277
He died in Bucharest in 1962. Streets in Oradea, Otopeni, Sibiu, and in the Crângași neighborhood of Bucharest are named after him. High schools in Codlea, Galați, and Vidra also bear his name.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Bălteanu, Dan (2012), "Simion Mehedinți – Founder and organiser of modern Romanian geography" (PDF), Romanian Journal of Geography, 56 (1): 3–10, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-10
- ^ a b Simandan, Dragos (2002), "On what it takes to be a good geographer" (PDF), Area, 34 (3): 284–293, doi:10.1111/1475-4762.00082
- ^ Ianoș, Ioan; Săgeată, Radu; Sorensen, Anthony (2018-07-03). "Simion Mehedinți's Contribution to Modern Romanian Geography". The Professional Geographer. 70 (3): 504–512. Bibcode:2018ProfG..70..504I. doi:10.1080/00330124.2018.1432365. S2CID 134128360.
- ^ Siteanu, Eugenia (2015), "Savantul geograf Simion Mehedinți" (PDF), Studii și Comunicări/DIS (in Romanian), 8 (8): 271–279
- 1868 births
- 1962 deaths
- People from Vrancea County
- University of Bucharest alumni
- Romanian geographers
- Romanian magazine editors
- Romanian people of World War I
- Junimists
- Titular members of the Romanian Academy
- Ministers of culture of Romania
- Ministers of education of Romania
- Members of the Iron Guard
- Leipzig University alumni
- Academic staff of the University of Bucharest
- Geomorphologists
- People from the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia
- Romanian schoolteachers
- Romanian people stubs