Șerban Țițeica

Șerban Țițeica (March 27 [O.S. March 14] 1908 – May 28, 1985) was a Romanian quantum physicist. He is regarded as the founder of the Romanian school of theoretical physics.^[1]

Șerban Țițeica
Șerban Țițeica, c. 1980
Born	(1908-03-27)March 27, 1908 Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania
Died	May 28, 1985(1985-05-28) (aged 77) Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania
Resting place	Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest
Alma mater	University of Bucharest Leipzig University
Father	Gheorghe Țițeica
Awards	Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 2rd class
Scientific career
Institutions	Politehnica University of Bucharest Alexandru Ioan Cuza University University of Bucharest
Thesis	On the behaviour of electrical resistance of metals in magnetic field (1935)
Doctoral advisor	Werner Heisenberg

The third and last child of mathematician Gheorghe Țițeica, he was born in Bucharest, where he attended Mihai Viteazul High School.^[2] He then went to the University of Bucharest, graduating in 1929 with a degree in Physics and Chemistry and another in Mathematics. That year, he met Enrico Fermi, who gave three talks at his alma mater; upon Fermi's recommendation, he pursued his studies at Leipzig University from 1930 to 1934 under Werner Heisenberg, earning a doctorate in 1935, with thesis "On the behaviour of electrical resistance of metals in magnetic field".^[3][4]

Țițeica taught at Politehnica University of Bucharest from 1935 to 1941 as assistant professor, and was then a professor at the University of Iași (1941–1948) and the University of Bucharest (1949–1977). He became a titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1955, and served as its vice president from 1963 until his death in his native city.^[2]

Țițeica was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig. He was also the Vice-Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (1962–1964), and a member of the Council of the European Physical Society (1970–1975).^[2] In 1971 he was awarded the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 2rd class.^[5]

He is buried at Bellu Cemetery, in Bucharest.

References

1. Năstase, Gabriel I. (2016). "Creatori români în elita inteligenței mondiale". Revista Univers Strategic (in Romanian). 7 (27): 195–199.
2. "Șerban Țițeica (1908–1985)". www.phys.uaic.ro (in Romanian). Faculty of Physics, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
3. "Short biography of Șerban Țițeica" (PDF). Institutul Național de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Fizică și Inginerie Nucleară Horia Hulubei. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
4. Țițeica, Șerban (2018), Modificarea rezistenței electrice a metalelor în câmp magnetic (PDF) (in Romanian), București – Măgurele: Editura Horia Hulubei, ISBN 978-606-94603-1-3
5. "Decretul nr. 138 din 20 aprilie 1971 al Consiliului de Stat al Republicii Socialiste România privind conferirea unor ordine ale Republicii Socialiste România, art. 5". lege5.ro (in Romanian). Buletinul Oficial. December 31, 1971.