Nicolae Vasilescu Karpen (December 10 (O.S.)/December 22 (N.S.), 1870, Craiova – March 2, 1964,

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 ...

) was a

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

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 limit ...

and

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 cau ...

, who worked in telegraphy and telephony and had achievements in mechanical engineering, elasticity,

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of th ...

, long-distance telephony,

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with the potential difference as an outco ...

, and civil engineering. Academia RPR, ''Dicționar Enciclopedic Român'', București: Editura Politică, 1962-1966 ''Personalități românești ale științelor naturii și tehnicii - Dicționar'', București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, 1982, pp. 400-401

Life

After studying at the Carol I High School in Craiova, he went to the School of Bridges, Roads and Mines in

. Mihai Olteneanu
''Nicolae Vasilescu - Karpen 1870 - 1964''
, ''Univers Ingineresc'', anul XVIII, Nr 1 (335) 1-16 ianuarie 2005, access-date 2011-06-05 After graduating in 1891, he worked as a civil engineer for three years. He went to France to study physics at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. In 1904 he was awarded a PhD in physics for his thesis ''Recherches sur l'effet magnétique des corps electrisés en mouvement'' (''Research on the magnetic effect of electrified bodies in motion''). After a year as a professor at the

University of Lille The University of Lille (french: Université de Lille, abbreviated as ULille, UDL or univ-lille) is a French public research university based in Lille, Hauts-de-France. It has its origins in the University of Douai (1559), and resulted from the ...

, he returned to Romania to teach at the School of Bridges, Roads and Mines, where he was appointed director in February 1920. As a result of his efforts, the School was transformed later that year into the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. Vasilescu Karpen was the first

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of this university, serving in that capacity until 1940. In 1908(?) he is said to have invented the . He was the engineer who introduced a permanent wire telecom bridge between

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

and Bucharest. He introduced electrically transmitted "wired telegrams" in the

Romanian Old Kingdom The Romanian Old Kingdom ( ro, Vechiul Regat or just ''Regat''; german: Regat or ) is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Romanian Principalities: Wallachia ...

by 1920. He became a titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) 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 byl ...

in 1923; stripped of membership by the new

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

in 1948, he was restored to the academy in 1955.

Karpen Pile

The Karpen Pile is claimed to be a battery that has provided continuous energy for over 60 years, making it either a supremely effective method of storing energy or a hoax, furthermore some newspapers describe it as a perpetuum mobile, but most scientists disagree since such a device would violate the

Second law of thermodynamics The second law of thermodynamics is a physical law based on universal experience concerning heat and energy interconversions. One simple statement of the law is that heat always moves from hotter objects to colder objects (or "downhill"), unles ...

. The device is housed at the Dimitrie Leonida National Technical Museum by 2010. There were claims that it had been working there continuously for 60 years. The prototype has been assembled in 1950 and consists of two series-connected electric piles moving a small galvanometric motor. The motor moves a blade that is connected to a switch. With every half rotation, the blade opens the circuit and closes it at the start of the second half. The blade's rotation time had been calculated so that the piles have time to recharge and that they can rebuild their polarity during the time that the circuit is open. It uses platinum and gold electrodes and no detectable corrosion effect happens. Normally, one electrode should corrode and lose ions which should deposit around the other electrode. Apparently, this does not happen. The cell is just as basic as it gets: two pure electrodes immersed in pure sulfuric acid. Everything sealed. However, the fact that the electrodes are made of gold and platinum (the least reactive metals) and the very low density of the generated power could be the reason why the pile is still working.

References

External links

Nicolae Vasilescu Karpen

"Nicolae Vasilescu-Karpen (1870-1964)"
short biography by Remus Răduleț
"For a continuous working of the Vasilescu-Karpen's concentration pile"
by Mihai Dogaru and Mircea Dimitrie Cazacu

short history
"Pila nemuritoare"
I. Golea, ''

Ziua ''Ziua'' (''The Day'' in Romanian) was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by Sorin Roşca Stănescu, eve ...

'', March 11, 2006

The "Dimitrie Leonida" National Technical Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasilescu Karpen, Nicolae Romanian inventors People from Craiova Romanian scientists Romanian electrical engineers Romanian physicists Electrochemists Titular members of the Romanian Academy University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Lille Nord de France Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Bucharest Rectors of Politehnica University of Bucharest Carol I National College alumni 1870 births 1964 deaths Romanian Ministers of Industry and Commerce

Life

Karpen Pile

See also

References

External links