Petru Poni

Petru Poni
Born	(1841-01-04)4 January 1841 Săcărești,Principality of Moldavia
Died	2 April 1925(1925-04-02)(aged 84) Iași,Kingdom of Romania
Resting place	Eternitatea Cemetery,Iași
Nationality	Romanian
Alma mater	University of Paris
Occupation(s)	Chemist, mineralogist, politician
Title	Minister of Religious Affairs and Education Mayor of Iași
Political party	National Liberal Party
Spouse	Matilda Cugler-Poni

Petru Poni(4 January 1841 – 2 April 1925) was aRomanianchemist andmineralogist.

Born into a family ofrăzeși(free peasants) inSăcărești,Iași County,he attended primary school inTârgu Frumos.In 1852, he enrolled inAcademia Mihăileană;among his teachers wereAugust Treboniu LaurianandSimion Bărnuțiu.He entered theUniversity of Parisin 1865, studying chemistry there. He returned home following graduation, teaching physics and chemistry atIași'sNational Collegeand at the military high school. In 1878, he became a professor at theUniversity of Iași,at first teaching at the medicine and science faculties, later only in the mineral chemistry department of the latter. He served asReligious Affairs and Education Ministerthree times: in 1891, 1895–1896 and in 1918. A bitter rival of his was theConservativeTitu Maiorescu,and he was obliged to leave theLiberalcabinet in 1896 after a dispute related to theRomanian Orthodox Church.When not in government, he continued to work in his chemistry laboratory in Iași.

A titularmember of the Romanian Academyfrom 1879,he was also the Academy's president between 1898 and 1901,and again between 1916 and 1920.His wife was the poetMatilda Cugler-Poni.

Poni served as Mayor of Iași, first in 1907 and then in 1922. He died in Iași in 1925, and is buried at the city'sEternitatea Cemetery.

External links

• Works by or about Petru Poniat theInternet Archive