Nicolae Teclu
Nicolae Teclu was born in Brasov . He studied at the primary and secondary schools in Brasov
and then he went to Vienne to finish the high school. Here, he attended the classes of the
Poitechnical Institute where he studied Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry. After that, he
attended Art Academy in Munchen, graduating Architecture in 1864.
After graduating college, he works in a paper factory in Schlogemuhl, a
period when he made a lot of research in Chemistry, in the end deciding
to build a paper factory in his native country, Romania. Therefore, in 1868
he returned in Brasov in order to build the factory but unfortunately he
didn’t get any support so he started to work as a Chemistry teacher at
Andrei Saguna High School. After 4 years of teaching he returned to
Vienne working as a lecturer at the Chemistry College replacing his own
teacher Ludwig Boltzman. Then he was also a teacher at the Trade
Academy ending his career as a chemist at the State Money Bank in
Austria.
Nicolae Teclu was a tireless researcher, becoming famous all
over the world by the 60 discoveries and 52 works on
Chemistry. He studied papers on mineral pigments, oils used in
paint, paper and fiber light resistance, gas combustion, and
composition analysis of a meteorite found in India.
He discovered a revolutionary method at that time to read
even a scorched paper using the solution of glycerine water
used by Nicolae Teclu to identify Austrian money burned in a
fire in Belgium and also by reading some burned documents
helping Polish authorities to prove the murder of a prominent
lawyer in Krakow.
His major concern in research was the “burning phenomenon"
that drew his attention throughout his .In 1900 he invented the
light bulb Laboratory making it adjustable of the airflow and
gas.This bulb bears the name "Teclu burner." The burner was
patented and manufactured in Vienna and is still used today in
all chemistry laboratories all over the world.
Nicolae Teclu also realized apparatus for
making solid carbon dioxide to
decompose water, to record gas explosion, to
determine the composition of air in the
mine, for the preparation of ozone .The
photometer discovered by Teclu is used in
medicine today in the analytical laboratories.
At Bucharest in “Teclu “laboratory at the
University there is an important collection
with devices made by this great Romanian
scientist. He was a very famous Romanian
chemist known the entire world, and to pay
him respect a lot of high schools in Romania
bear his name.