NICOLAE PĂULESCU
1869 - 1931
MOTTO: "AS FOR ME, I CAN SAY
LOUD AND CLEAR THAT I AM SURE
OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE SOUL,
AS I AM OF ANY OTHER TRUTH
PROVEN THROUGH
EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE AND IT IS
NOT JUST A MERE CONVICTION,
BUT A DEEP FAITH, GAINED
SCIENTIFICALLY. "(N. PĂULESCU)

Nicolae Păulescu was
born on the 8th of
November 1869
in Bucharest, Romania.
He was the first of the four
children born to the
Păulescu family. The
young Păulescu showed
remarkable abilities from
a very early age by rapidly
becoming fluent in French,
Latin and Ancient Greek.
He also had a talent for
drawing, music and an
inclination towards
natural sciences.


He finished high school in
1888 and then went to
Paris to enroll in Medical
School. He obtained his
Doctor of Medicine degree
in 1897 and then he
worked at the Notre-Dame
du Perpétuel-Secours
Hospital until 1900, when
he returned to Romania.
In 1916, he managed to obtain a substance which he extracted from a
bovine pancreas and which he called pancreine. He wrote a paper in
which he described his findings, called “Research on the Role of the
Pancreas in Food Assimilation”, which he submitted to the Archives
Internationales de Physiologie in Liège, Belgium. It was published in
August 1921.
Prof. Păulescu used this article and his patent to try to prove that was
the true discoverer of insulin and the one who truly deserved the Nobel
Prize, but it was to no avail.
In the autumn of 1888, Păulescu left for Paris, where he enrolled in
medical school. In 1897 he graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree,
and was immediately appointed as assistant surgeon at the Notre-Dame
du Perpétuel-Secours Hospital. In 1900, Paulescu returned to Romania,
where he remained until his death (1931) as Head of the Physiology
Department of the University of Bucharest Medical School, as well as a
Professor of Clinical Medicine at the St. Vincent de Paul Hospital in
Bucharest.
From 24 April to 23 June 1921, Păulescu published four papers at the
Romanian Section of the Society of Biology in Paris:
The effect of the pancreatic extract injected into a diabetic animal by
way of the blood.
The influence of the time elapsed from the intravenous pancreatic
injection into a diabetic animal.
The effect of the pancreatic extract injected into a normal animal by way
of the blood.
INSULINE MOLECULE
Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that allows
your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in
the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for
future use. Insulin helps keeps your blood sugar level
from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low
(hypoglycemia).
 The cells in your body need sugar for energy.
However, sugar cannot go into most of your cells
directly. After you eat food and your blood sugar level
rises, cells in your pancreas (known as beta cells) are
signaled to release insulin into your bloodstream.
Insulin then attaches to and signals cells to absorb
sugar from the bloodstream. Insulin is often described
as a “key,” which unlocks the cell to allow sugar to
enter the cell and be used for energy.


Păulescu died in 1931 in Bucharest. He is buried
in Bellu cemetery.


In 1990, he was elected posthumously as member
of the Romanian Academy.



In 1993, the Institute of Diabetes, Nutrition and
Metabolic Diseases in Bucharest was named in
his honor (Institutul de Diabet, Nutriţie şi Boli
Metabolice "N. C. Păulescu"). The Institute was
renamed on 3 March 1993, by the Ministry of
Health Decree no. 273, at the initiative of Prof.
Dr. Iulian Mincu.