Victor Vâlcovici
Vâlcovici in the 1930s
Born	(1885-09-21)September 21, 1885 Galați, Kingdom of Romania
Died	21 June 1970(1970-06-21) (aged 84) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Resting place	Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest
Education	Nicolae Bălcescu High School
Alma mater	University of Bucharest University of Göttingen
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics, Mechanics
Institutions	University of Iași Polytechnic School of Timișoara University of Bucharest
Thesis	Ueber die diskontinuierliche Flussigkeitsbewegungen mit zwei freien Strahlen (1913)
Doctoral advisor	Ludwig Prandtl
Minister of Public Works and Communications
In office April 18, 1931 – June 5, 1932
Prime Minister	Nicolae Iorga
Preceded by	Ion Răducanu
Succeeded by	Gheorghe Mironescu
Minister of Justice
In office January 7 – January 9, 1932
Prime Minister	Nicolae Iorga
Preceded by	Constantin Hamangiu
Succeeded by	Valer Pop [ ro]

Victor Vâlcovici (21 September [ O.S. 9 September] 1885 – 21 June 1970) was a Romanian mechanician and mathematician.

Biography

Born into a modest family in Galați, he graduated first in his class in 1904 from Nicolae Bălcescu High School in Brăila. Entering the University of Bucharest on a scholarship, he attended its faculty of sciences, where he had as teachers Spiru Haret and Gheorghe Țițeica. ^[1] After graduating in 1907 with a degree in mathematics, he taught high school for two years before leaving for University of Göttingen on another scholarship to pursue a doctorate in mathematics. He wrote his thesis under the direction of Ludwig Prandtl and defended it in 1913; the thesis, titled Ueber die diskontinuierliche Flussigkeitsbewegungen mit zwei freien Strahlen (Discontinuous flow of liquids in two free dimensions), ^{[2] [3] [4]} amplified upon the work of Bernhard Riemann. ^[5]

He was subsequently named assistant professor of mechanics at the University of Iași, rising to full professor in 1918. ^[6] In 1921, he became rector of the Polytechnic School of Timișoara. There, he was also professor of rational mechanics and founded a laboratory dedicated to the field. ^[5] During his nine years as rector, he worked to place the recently founded university on a solid foundation. ^[6] From 1930 until retiring in 1962, he taught experimental mechanics at the University of Bucharest. ^[5] In the government of Nicolae Iorga, he served as Minister of Public Works from 1931 to 1932. During this time, he introduced a modern road network that featured paved highways. ^{[5] [6]} In 1936 he gave an invited talk at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo, with title Sur le sillage derrière un obstacle circulaire (In the wake of a circular obstacle). ^[7]

Elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1936, ^[8] he was stripped of his membership by the new communist regime in 1948, ^[9]: 123 but made a titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1965. ^[10] His numerous articles on theoretical and applied mechanics covered topics such as the principles of variational mechanics, the mechanics of ideal fluid flow, the theory of elasticity and astronomy. ^[5]

He died in 1970 in Bucharest, and was buried in the city's Bellu Cemetery. Streets have been named after Victor Vâlcovici in Brăila, Galați, and Timișoara; a school in Galați also bears his name.

Books

• Vâlcovici, Victor (1958). Une extension des liaisons non holonomes et des principes variationnels (in French). De Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783112498545. ISBN  978-3-11-249854-5. MR  0090218. S2CID  118604371.
• Vâlcovici, Victor (1971). Mecanica fluidelor și teoria elasticității (in Romanian). București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. OCLC  886523167.

Notes

References

• Willi Hager, Hydraulicians in Europe (1800–2000), vol. 2. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 2009. ISBN  978-1-4665-5498-6
• (in Romanian) Eufrosina Otlăcan, "Victor Vâlcovici (1885–1970) – savant și desăvârșit pedagog", NOEMA, vol. VI, 2007, pp. 124–29

External links

• "Valcovici, Victor (1885–1970)". www.dmg-lib.org. Retrieved February 16, 2022.