Simion Mehedinți

Simion Mehedinți, in 1918

Simion Mehedinți(Romanian pronunciation:[simiˈonmeheˈdint͡sʲ];October 19, 1868 – December 14, 1962) was aRomaniangeographer, the founding father of modern Romanian geography,and a titular member of theRomanian Academy.A figure of importance in theJunimealiterary club, he was for a while editor of its magazine,Convorbiri Literare,and became a supporter of thefascistIron Guard.

He was born inSoveja,Vrancea County.After attending primary school in his native village, he went to study theology, first inFocșani,and then inBucharest,where he graduated from high school in 1888. He then enrolled at the Faculty of Letters of theUniversity of Bucharest,graduating with aB.A.thesis on "J.J. Rousseau’s ideas on education." He then pursued his studies inParis,withPaul Vidal de la Blache,and at theUniversity of Berlin,withFerdinand von Richthofen.In 1895, Mehedinți transferred toLeipzig University,where he completed a Ph.D. degree in early 1899, with thesis "Über die Kartographische Induction" written under the direction ofFriedrich Ratzel.He then returned to Romania, where he was appointed professor at the University of Bucharest and head of the first geography department at that university.He was a strong proponent of thegeomorphologyapproach to geographic studies; his powerful position enabled him to impose this point of view on Romanian geography.

Mehedinți was elected correspondingmember of the Romanian Academyin 1908, and titular member in 1915.

He died in Bucharest in 1962. Streets inOradea,Otopeni,Sibiu,and in theCrângașineighborhood of Bucharest are named after him. High schools inCodlea,Galați,andVidraalso bear his name.