Constantin Avram (February 19, 1911 – February 20, 1987) was a

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

n structural engineer. Born in Ciumași,

Bacău County Bacău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeș-Făget, in Transylvania. Geography This county has a total area of . In the western part of the county there a ...

, his parents Nicolai and Maria were peasants; in addition, his father was a mechanic for ''

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...

''. The couple worked hard for their children's education; their four sons all earned university degrees, with three becoming structural engineers and the fourth a chemical engineer. Constantin attended Ferdinand I High School in

Bacău Bacău ( ; , ; ; ) is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. With a population of 136,087 (as of 2021 census), Bacău is the 14th largest city in Romania. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the ...

from 1923 to 1930. He then enrolled in the military engineers officers' school in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, graduating first in his class in 1932 and becoming a second lieutenant in the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

. After a yearlong internship, he was sent on a government scholarship to the École militaire et d'application du génie de Versailles. Upon his return home, he attended the construction faculty of the Bucharest Polytechnic School. In 1940, he graduated first in his class and earned a degree as a structural engineer. He married Emilia Petrescu in 1939. Corneliu Bob
"Centenarul Prof. emerit Constantin Avram, membru corespondent al Academiei Române"
in ''Revista Academiei de Științe Tehnice din România'', filiala Timișoara, nr. 19, 2011 In October 1940, he became a teaching assistant at the Polytechnic's reinforced concrete building department. In February 1948, following the onset of the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, he was transferred as a full professor to the construction faculty of the Polytechnic University of Timișoara. There, his teaching focused on reinforced concrete until his retirement in 1975. Other fields he taught included reinforced concrete bridges; statics (1948-1950); material resistance and the theory of elasticity (1948-1953); statics and dynamics of construction (1960-1963). He helped set up a construction faculty at the Cluj Polytechnic Institute, where he taught reinforced concrete from 1954 to 1959, commuting between

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

and

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

. He became a doctoral adviser in 1952, guiding dozens of students through the process. He wrote a number of textbooks in his field, and, either alone or in collaboration, authored some 110 scientific publications. He was chairman of the reinforced concrete and building department from 1953 to 1975, and rector at Timișoara from 1963 to 1971. In 1963, he was elected a corresponding member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) 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 bylaws, the academy's ma ...

. In his limited spare time, he read classic literature and was a passionate supporter of Poli Timișoara football team. He died in 1987.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avram, Constantin 1911 births 1987 deaths People from Bacău County Romanian Land Forces officers 20th-century Romanian engineers Structural engineers Romanian military engineers Romanian textbook writers Politehnica University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Bucharest Academic staff of the Politehnica University of Timișoara Rectors of Politehnica University of Timișoara Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy