Victor Anestin (; 17 September 1875 – 5 November 1918) was a Romanian journalist, science popularizer, astronomer and science fiction writer.

Biography

Born 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 ...

, Victor Anestin was the son of actor Ion Anestin. He graduated high school in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

and went on to work for some measly wages as proof reader for various

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 ...

newspapers.Manolescu, p.218 As an astronomer, he made a few original observations over planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

and published several articles in foreign journals such as ''

La Nature ''La Nature'' (English: ''Nature'') was a French language magazine aimed at the popularization of science established in 1873 by French scientist and adventurer Gaston Tissandier. The magazine also received an enormous amount of time, effort, ...

'', '' Monthly Register'' and ''

L'Astronomie ''LAstronomie'' () is a monthly astronomy magazine published by the Société astronomique de France (SAF). Sylvain Bouley, the president of SAF, is the publication director and astronomer Fabrice Mottez is the editor-in-chief. History The magaz ...

''. Between 1907 and 1912, he published the first Romanian astronomical journal, ''Orion'' and in 1908, he was the founder of the ''Societatea astronomică română "Camille Flammarion"''. In 1912, Anestin became the director of the ''Ziarul Călătoriilor'', which he renamed in ''Ziarul ştiinţelor populare'' ("Journal of Popular Sciences") and its circulation rose to 15,000. Together with C. I. Istrati, he founded ''Universitatea Populară din București'' in 1912 and at the end of the year 1913, he founded the ''Prietenii Ṣtiinţei'' association.Manolescu, p.219

Legacy

Anestin wrote three science fiction novels and a large number of articles and over a hundred booklets about science. In his novel ''A Celestial Tragedy'' (published in February 1914), Anestin has one of the earliest descriptions of the possibility of using the atomic power for war purposes, being published in the same year as

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

' ''

The World Set Free ''The World Set Free'' is a novel written in 1913 and published in 1914 by H. G. Wells. The book is based on a prediction of a more destructive and uncontrollable sort of weapon than the world has yet seen. It had appeared first in serialised f ...

''. Ion Hobana
"Nuclear War Fiction in Eastern Europe"
, in ''Nuclear Texts and Contexts'', Fall 1989 The astronomical observatory of Bacău bears his name."V. Anestin" Astronomical Observatory
cimec.ro

Science fiction novels

* ''În anul 4000 sau O călătorie la Venus'' (''In the year 4000, or A trip to Venus'', 1899, not to be confused with John Munro's ''A Trip to Venus'', 1897) * ''O tragedie cerească, Poveste astronomică'' (''A Celestial Tragedy, An Astronomical Story'', 1914) * ''Puterea ştiinţei, sau Cum a fost omorât Răsboiul European, Poveste fantastică'' (''The Power of Science, or How was the European War Killed'', Fantasy Story, 1916) * ''Camille Flammarion'' (1901) * ''Haralamb Lecca, autor dramatic. Studiu critic'' (1901) * ''Cucerirea aerului'' (1909) * ''Stelele. Notiuni populare de astronomie'' (1909) * ''Astronomie populară'' (traducere din limba engleză după H. Macpherson, 1909) * ''Vine cometa Halley'' (1909) * ''Ce sunt cometele'' (1910) * ''Planeta Marte este ea locuită?'' (1910) * ''Giordano Bruno. Viața și opera lui'' (1911) * ''Newton și Atracțiunea universală'' (1911) * ''In lumea spiritelor'' (1911) * ''Observațiuni astronomice. Planeta Venus în 1911'' (1911) * ''Venus diurna'' (1911) * ''Eclipsele sau Întunecimile de Soare și de Lună'' (1912) * ''Romanul cerului - astronomie pentru toti'' (1912) * ''Studii astronomice - rasaritul si apusul astrelor'' (1913) * ''Cum să înveți stelele - Cu 28 de hărți cerești în text'', Casa Școalelor, București, 1913 * ''Cum să înveți stelele - Cu 28 de hărți cerești în text'', Casa Școalelor, (Ediția a II-a, 1922 / 1923), București * ''Cum să înveți stelele - Cu 27 de hărți cerești în text'', Ediția a III-a comentată, revizuită și adăugită de Mircea Pteancu și Dan-George Uza, Editura Astromix, Cluj-Napoca 2021, 252 de pagini, * ''O tragedie cerească, Poveste astronomică'' (1914) (roman științifico-fantastic) * ''Eclipsele de soare'' (191 * ''Știința și Morala'' (1915) * ''Viața și invețiunile lui Edison'' (1915) * ''Căpitanul Scott la Polul Sud'' (1915) * ''Ce trebue să citim'' (1915) * ''Viata și opera lui William Herschel'' (1915) * ''Femeile învățate'' (1915) * ''Visele. După Flammarion'' (1916) * ''Puterea științei, sau Cum a fost omorât Răsboiul European, Poveste fantastică'' (1916) (roman științifico-fantastic) * ''Povestea stiintei'' (1916) * ''Eroii științei'' (1916) * ''Cutremurele de Pămînt'' (1916) * ''Minunile naturei. Razele x și radiul, după Ch. Gibson și Ramsay'' (1916) * ''Povestea vulcanilor după St. Meunier, Flammarion și Guillemin'' (1916) * ''Povești astronomice'' (1916) * ''Se va stinge soarele? Soarele după astronomia modernă'' (1916) * ''Amintiri din teatru'' (1918) * ''Viata anecdotica a invatatilor ilustri'' * ''Viata si opera celebrilor exploratori'' (1922) * ''Calatorii extraordinare'' (1922) * ''Cum sa inveti stelele'' (1922) * ''Stelele'' (1930) * ''Savanti si inventatori care au schimbat cursul lumii'' (2010) * ''O tragedie cereasca. Puterea stiintei'' (2010)

Notes

References

*Florin Manolescu, ''Literatura S.F.'', Editura Univers, Bucharest, 1980 {{DEFAULTSORT:Anestin, Victor 1875 births 1918 deaths People from Bacău Romanian astronomers Romanian journalists Romanian science writers Romanian science fiction writers Romanian novelists Romanian male novelists