Emil Constantinescu

Emil Constantinescu (Romanian pronunciation: [eˈmil konstantiˈnesku] ^ⓘ; born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the president of Romania from 1996 to 2000.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member and vice president of the Civic Alliance (AC). In addition, he also served as the acting president of the Democratic Romanian Anti-Totalitarian Forum, the first associative structure of the democratic opposition in post-1989 Romania, which was later transformed into a centre-right political and electoral alliance known as the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR). He subsequently presided over the People's Action (AP) party from the early 2000s until it merged into the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2008. Nowadays, Constantinescu remains involved in Romanian politics, to a limited extent.

Emil Constantinescu was born on 19 November 1939, in Tighina, Ținutul Nistru, Kingdom of Romania, which today is named Bender, and de facto part of Transnistria. His mother, Maria Georgeta Colceag, was born in Ploiești on 24 April 1916, and, after graduating from high school, was a student at the Bucharest Conservatory in the harp class, but gave up her career in music to follow her husband, Ion Constantinescu. He was originally from Oltenia, he had 8 brothers, and after becoming an agronomist engineer, he was assigned to Bessarabia. The Constantinescu family took refuge in 1943 in Brădetu village, Argeș County where Emil spent his childhood. His sister, Marina, was born in 1942, and in 1946, his brother, Cristian, was born.

From 1953 to 1956, Constantinescu was a student of the "Nicolae Bălcescu" High School in Pitești (currently Colegiu I.C. Brătianu), and obtained his matriculation diploma on 19 July 1956. In the same year, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest. He obtained a Diploma in Legal Sciences in 1960 and after completing his military internship in Piatra Neamț, he began his work as a trainee judge at the Pitesti Regional Court, economic section. The political climate caused him to give up this position and become a student at the Faculty of Geology – Geography, between 1961 and 1966. He holds a PhD in Geology from the University of Bucharest and a Doctor of Sciences from Duke University.

In 1963, he married Nadia Ileana, a lawyer, who was his colleague at the Faculty of Law in Bucharest. His father died in 1991, and his mother died in 2011.

Constantinescu went through all stages of his university career as an assistant and lecturer at the Faculty of Geology (1966–1990). Since 1991 onwards, he has been a professor of Mineralogy at the University of Bucharest. He was also a visiting professor at Duke University in the United States between 1991 and 1992. He was elected vice‑rector (1990–1992) and rector (1992–1996) of the University of Bucharest; president of the National Council of Rectors from Romania (1992–1996); member of the Permanent Committee of the Association of European Universities – CRE (1992–1993; 1994–1998); and member of the International Association of University Presidents IAUP (1994–1996).

He is the author of 12 books and over 60 studies in the field of geology, published in prestigious scientific journals in the country and abroad. He is also an honorary member and elected member of the Geological and Mineralogical Societies of the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Greece, and Japan; of the Geographical Society of France and the National Geographic Society in the United States.

Constantinescu has lectured at major universities, including the University of Tübingen, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, Harvard University, Berkeley, Columbia, and Georgetown, and has spoken in cities such as Bloomington, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Prague, Turku, Cairo, and Lublin. His honors include the Romanian Academy Award for contributions to geology (1980); Palmas Academicas from the Brazilian Academy of Letters (2000); gold and honorary medals from Comenius University, Charles University, and the University of São Paulo; the Arthur Bertrand Medal from the French Academy of Sciences; and medals from the National Institute of Sciences and Arts of France, the Sorbonne, and the University of Amsterdam.