Alice Săvulescu

Alice Săvulescu
Born	Alice Aronescu (1905-10-29)29 October 1905 Oltenița,Călărași County,Kingdom of Romania
Died	1 February 1970(1970-02-01)(aged 64) Bucharest,Socialist Republic of Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Alma mater	University of Bucharest Columbia University
Known for	mycology
Spouse	Traian Săvulescu
Awards	Elected titular member of theRomanian Academyin 1963
Scientific career
Fields	Botany
Doctoral advisor	Bernard Ogilvie Dodge

Alice Săvulescu(29 October 1905 – 1 February 1970) was aRomanianbotanistwho studied various fungi and their relationships to their hosts. After completing her undergraduate studies at theUniversity of Bucharest,she earned aPh.D.fromColumbia Universitybefore returning to Romania. Throughout her career, she researched and published over 150 scientific papers. She served as deputy director and full director of several research institutions in Romania and was elected a titularmember of the Romanian Academyin 1963.

Early life

Alice Aronescu was born on 29 October 1905 inOltenița,Călărași County,into aJewishfamily.She began her studies inbiologyat theUniversity of Bucharest,graduating in 1929. That same year, she took a position at the Institute of Tobacco and Fermentation, working there for two years.In 1931, Aronescu went abroad toNew York Cityto continue her education, under the direction ofBernard Ogilvie Dodge.In 1934, she received a PhD inmicrobiologyandpathophysiologyfromColumbia University,with a thesis describing afunguswhich attackedrosesand returned to Romania.

Career

Aronescu began working as the head of the laboratory of the Agronomical Research Institute (Romanian:Institutul de Cercetări Agronomice (ICAR)) in 1934,under the director of the section on Plant Pathology,Traian Săvulescu.She was an asset to the department because she spoke English, but a liability because of her heritage.

The two married in 1938 but shortly afterwards, in 1940, both were dismissed from their teaching posts because of Aronescu's Jewish heritage.Rehired in 1941,they continued their work. Săvulescu's main focus of study was on diseases which effectedcereals,fruit trees,andpotatoesand analysis ofparasite-host relationships,as well as the applicable use offungicides.Some of her later works evaluated the use ofradioactive isotopesin agriculture.When her husband left the ICAR in 1949, Săvulescu replaced him as director.

In 1952, Săvulescu was made a corresponding member of theRomanian People's Republic Academy.Five years later, she became the deputy director of the Center for Biological Research (Romanian:Centrul de Cercetări Biologice) and in 1959 was appointed deputy director of theanimal morphologylaboratory. The following year, she was appointed the deputy director of the "Traian Săvulescu" Institute of Biology.Made a full member of the Romanian People's Republic Academy in 1963,she was promoted to director of the Institute of Biology in 1964.Throughout her career, she authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific publications.

Death and legacy

In 1970, right after leaving a meeting withNicolae Ceaușescu,the head of state, who informed her that the Institute was being transferred to the Department of Agriculture, Săvulescu suffered a heart attack. She died on 1 February 1970 in Bucharest.

References

Bibliography

• Arina, Avram (2016)."Alice Săvulescu".Femei celebre din România. Mică enciclopedie 2(in Romanian). Bucharest, Romania: Editura ALLFA.ISBN978-973-724-848-0.
• Белецкий (Beletsky), Ю (Iu) (2009)."СЭВУЛЕСКУ Алиса"[Alisa Sevulescu].Persons-info(in Russian). Kiev, Ukraine: OOO Publishing House.Retrieved2 April2017.
• Maramorosch, Karl(2015).The Thorny Road to Success: A Memoir.Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse.ISBN978-1-4917-5409-2.
• Marcu, George (2009)."Dicţionarul personalităţilor feminine din România: Alice Săvulescu"[Dictionary of female personalities from Romania: Alice Săvulescu].Enciclopedia României(in Romanian). Bucharest, Romania: Editura Meronia. Archived fromthe originalon 6 August 2016.Retrieved2 April2017.
• Oghina-Pavie, Cristiana (2017)."The National Pattern of Lysenkoism in Romania".In deJong-Lambert, William; Krementsov, Nikolai (eds.).The Lysenko Controversy as a Global Phenomenon.Vol. 2: Genetics and Agriculture in the Soviet Union and Beyond. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.ISBN978-3-319-39179-3.
• "29 октября родились..."[October 29 were born...].Live Internet Russia(in Russian). Moscow, Russia. 29 October 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 29 November 2016.Retrieved2 April2017.
• "History".Institute of Biology.Bucharest, Romania. 23 November 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 2 March 2017.Retrieved2 April2017.