icbp

Legacy of a distinguished scientist
Professor  Nicolae Simionescu
Director of ICBP: 1979-1995

“Nicolae Simionescu had a meteoric career. In ten years, starting with a good mind and a good general education, he became an accomplished, generally recognized authority in the cell biology of the vascular endothelium. In the next decade or so, under uncertain and difficult conditions of social and political nature, he organized a research institute and trained a whole team of capable investigators and in the next five years he assumed a position of leadership in the Romanian Academy, the highest institution guiding the creative activities of the country.
At every step in this rapid evolution, he left behind a lasting heritage:
- his research accomplishments;
- the Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology;
- two generations of well-trained investigators and a demanding but luminous vision for the future of nature sciences in Romania.”
Professor George Emil Palade
University of California, San Diego, USA

“Nicolae Simionescu was a citizen of the world, but was in the first place a Romanian through and through, down to his last red blood cell. He gave all his energies to build in Romania an island of excellence - on a world scale - and he did so despite enormous difficulties, pain, and personal danger. Shielded by his extraordinary presence, his scientific stature, his inspiring imagination, he fought for the future of young Romanians at his own risk, day after difficult day.
Nicolae has permanently enriched our lives. For those who had the privilege of knowing him personally, cherished memories will include flashes of his unbeatable sense of humour, which never left him even under the hardest circumstances. Although to the international scientific community he was the quintessence of a „pure“ researcher, in his private life he found the time to compose music at the keyboard, to paint and to write poetry; in this too he was an admirable role model for his younger associates. Among tangible gifts, Nicolae Simionescu left us a living monument - the I.C.B.P. - with a scientifically beautiful name and a beautiful mission. And above all, for Romanians and for scientists the world over, his example of uncompromising courage will live on; heroes are needed more than ever in the difficult times that we are still living.
Romania has lost a most distinguished son - but also acquired a precious legacy.”   

Professor Guido Majno
University of Massachusetts, Worcester, USA

For us, Professor Nicolae Simionescu was a breath of fresh air in the hard time of the communist regime. He was a complete and complex personality in which the scrupulous scholar, the genuine scientist, the authentic educator and teacher and the veritable patriot combined to bestow a remarkable human being. We have learned from our Magister the marvel of research, the meaning of the dedication to science, the ways to meet the success and failure, the sense of responsibility, the rigour, the ethics and the greatness of intellectual grace and moral values that should complement a genuine scientist.
Infinite gratitude to our Professor.

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