Caius Iacob (March 29, 1912 – February 6, 1992) 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, a ...

n mathematician, professor at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princ ...

, and 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 by ...

. After the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

in 1989, he was elected to the

Senate of Romania ) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 136 seats (before the 2016 Romanian legislative election the total number of elected representatives was 176), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-li ...

Biography

He was born in Arad, the son of and Camelia, née Moldovan. His father was professor of Canon Law and served as delegate for Arad at the

Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia The Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia ( ro, Marea Adunare Națională de la Alba Iulia) was an assembly held on 1 December 1918 in the city of Alba Iulia in which a total of 1,228 delegates from several areas inhabited by ethnic Romanians de ...

of 1 December 1918. Caius Iacob attended the Moise Nicoară High School in his native city, and then completed his secondary education at the Emanuil Gojdu High School in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the western par ...

. After passing his baccalaureate examination with the highest mark in the nation, he was admitted in 1928 at the Faculty of Sciences of the

, from where he graduated in 1931, aged nineteen. Iacob continued his studies at the Faculty of Sciences of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

, with thesis advisor Henri Villat. He defended his thesis, ''Sur la détermination des fonctions harmoniques par certaines conditions aux limites: applications à l'hydrodynamique'', on 24 June 1935. His most important work was in the studies of classical hydrodynamics, fluid mechanics, mathematical analysis, and compressible-flow theory. Iacob started his academic career in 1935 at

Politehnica University of Timișoara Politehnica University of Timișoara ( ro, Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara; abbreviated UPT) is a public university in Timișoara. Founded in 1920, it is one of the largest technical universities in Central and Eastern Europe. The 10 facu ...

, after which he became a professor at the University of Bucharest and at

Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , le ...

. In 1955, he was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, becoming a titular member in 1963. From 1980 to the end of his life he served as President of the Mathematics section of the

. He was awarded several prizes for his work: the Henri de Parville Prize by the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...

(1940), the (1952), and the Order of the Star of the Romanian People's Republic, 3rd class (1964). In May 1990, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

for the

Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party The Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party ( ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc Creștin Democrat, officially abbreviated PNȚCD) is a Christian democratic and agrarian political party in Romania. It claims to be the rightful successor ...

— the only member of the party to be elected to the upper chamber of the

Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament in B ...

that year. He died in Bucharest in February 1992.

Legacy

Iacob was one of the founders of the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Romanian Academy in 1991. Ten years later, the institute merged with the Center for Mathematical Statistics of the Academy (that had been founded by

Gheorghe Mihoc Gheorghe Mihoc (July 7, 1906 – December 25, 1981) was a Romanian mathematician and statistician. He was born in Brăila, the son of Ecaterina and Gheorghe Mihoc, both originally from the Banat. In 1908, his father moved the family to Bucharest. ...

in 1964), becoming the current Gheorghe Mihoc–Caius Iacob Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Applied Mathematics of the Romanian Academy. A high school and a middle school, as well as a street and a plaza in Arad also bear his name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iacob, Caius 1912 births 1992 deaths People from Arad, Romania Romanian Austro-Hungarians University of Bucharest alumni University of Paris alumni 20th-century Romanian mathematicians Mathematical analysts Fluid dynamicists Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Timișoara Academic staff of Babeș-Bolyai University Titular members of the Romanian Academy Members of the Romanian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic National Peasants' Party politicians 21st-century Romanian politicians Members of the Senate of Romania