Traian Săvulescu (2 February 1889, Râmnicu Sărat – 29 March 1963, Bucharest) was a Romanian biologist and botanist, founder of the Romanian School of Phytopathology, member and president of the Romanian Academy.
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
, where his teacher, Teodor Nicolau, directed him towards the study of botany.
After graduation in 1907, he enrolled at the
Faculty of Medicine
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
in Bucharest. The next year, he enrolled at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Natural Sciences, from which he graduated in 1912. After graduation, he embarked on a Ph.D. at the Botanical Institute in Bucharest, which he obtained in 1916 with a doctoral thesis entitled ' (''Study of the species of Campanula L. in the Heterophyllae growing in Romania''). The work was well received and noted with '. Săvulescu became the first doctor of botany at the University of Bucharest.
Career
Between 1912 and 1921 he worked at the Botanical Institute of Cotroceni and in 1918 he was appointed lecturer in the Department of Plant Morphology and Institute of Systematic Botany in Bucharest. For a quarter of a century, he divided his work between the College of Agriculture at Herăstrău Park, where he taught
Systematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...
and
Phytopathology
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...
, and the Plant and the Agricultural Research Institute of Romania, founded by
Gheorghe Ionescu-Sisești
Gheorghe Ionescu-Sisești (16 October 1885–4 June 1967) was a Romanian agronomer. He was elected titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1936,vinemildew. In 1929 he founded a laboratory for the study of insecticide-fungicide substances, the laboratory subsequently becoming the national Plant Protection Service. He also initiated the first phytosanitation laws and quarantine control in Romania.
In 1928 he founded the academic journal ''Starea fitosanitară a României'' (''Phytosanitary status of Romania''), published annually, which covered matters of plant protection.
On 25 May 1936, Săvulescu became a correspondent member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences.
In June 1938 Săvulescu featured in a documentary film of an expedition in the
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...
, exploring the local flora. That same year, he married Alice Aronescu, a colleague who after graduating from the University of Bucharest, had obtained a Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Between 29 November 1946 and 30 December 1947, Săvulescu served as Minister of Agriculture under Prime MinisterPetru Groza and was Vice President of the Council of Ministers.
In 1948 he became an active member and secretary general of the Romanian Academy. In 1948, with the nationalization initiated by the communist regime, the Academy ceased to exist as a private institution and was reorganized under the name of the ''Academy of the Romanian People''. Săvulescu was appointed president of this new organization during the Romanian People's Republic (1948–1959) by decree of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly. He remained its honorary president until his death in 1963.
In April 1955, during an election meeting of the Academy, Traian Săvulescu came to the defence of former members excluded in 1948 for their previous collaboration with authoritarian, anti-Semitic or fascist governments.
On 23 March 1956, as a gesture towards the abolition of the Academy of Sciences of Romania and its integration into the People's Republic Romanian Academy, Săvulescu, as President of the Academy, organized the inaugural meeting of the Association of Romanian Scientists (AORS).
Săvulescu was a member of several foreign academies, including those from Hungary, Germany, and New York (US). He was also editor of the journal '' Buletin de la section scientifique de L'Académie Roumaine'' and member of the editorial boards of the journals '' Phytopathologische Zeitschrift, Berlin and '' Sydowia''.
He was honoured in the name of a taxon of fungi by Franz Petrak in 1959, '' Savulescua'' . Also in 1959, botanist
Cif.
Raffaele Ciferri (30 May 1897, Fermo – 12 February 1964, Pavia) was an Italian botanist, agriculturalist and mycologist.
He studied agricultural sciences at the University of Bologna. From 1925 to 1932, he was based in the Dominican Republic, ...
published the fungi genus of 'Savulescuella'' but the three species were placed in the
Doassansiaceae
The Doassansiaceae are a family of fungi in the division Basidiomycota and order of Doassansiales. The family contains 11 genera and about 58 species. They have a widespread distribution.P. F. Cannon and P. M. Kirk (editors) ''Doassansiaceae'' i ...