Alexandru Mironov

Alexandru Mironov (born 27 January 1942) is a Romanian science-fiction writer, journalist, and left-wing politician. A former member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Counsel for President Ion Iliescu, Mironov was Minister for Youth and Sport in 1993-1996. Since 2008, he is a member of the minor Romanian Socialist Party (PSR). He is also known as a radio and television presenter and a documentary filmmaker.

Biography Born in the Bessarabian locality of Vertiujeni, now part of Moldova, Mironov was from a family which took refuge in southern Romania following the region's second occupation by the Soviet Union before the end of World War II. He attended the Nicolae Bălcescu High School in Craiova (known before and after as the Carol I High School) and then he studied Mathematics at the University of Bucharest.

His debut was in 1971 in the number 387 of the Colecția de Povestiri Științifico-Fantastice magazine, having published two sci-fi stories Performanță ciudată(Strange performance) and Prea târziu(Too late). For the following decades, he published several dozens of stories, most of them featured in the Întâmplări din Veacul XXI (1974) and Alte întâmplări din Veacul XXI (1977) anthologies. According to Mironov's own statement, the communist regime sidelined him and sent him to work for the Radio company after his explicit refusal to broadcast praises of President Nicolae Ceaușescu.

Mironov left the PSD at the same time as his colleague Petre Lificiu, and motivated it by saying that Romania needed a real left-wing party. Alleging that the "almost all [PSD] leaders are millionaires in dollars", Mironov stated that he still supported former PSD leader Iliescu, showing himself ready to join a potential new left-wing party founded by the latter.

Published books Enigmatic, pămîntul (Scrisul Românesc, Bucharest, 1977; second edition, Editura InterContempPress, Bucharest, 1997) Proiecte planetare (Editura Albatros, Bucharest, 1988; ed. a II-a, Editura pentru Știință SIT, Bucharest, 2006) - with Alexandru A. Boiu Întîmplări din mileniul III (Editura Ion Creangă, Bucharest, 1989) Cronici metagalactice (Editura Tehnică, Bucharest, 1990) - with Ștefan Ghidoveanu Cronici microelectronice (Editura Tehnică, Bucharest, 1990) - with Ștefan Ghidoveanu and Mihai Bădescu Laboratoarele lumii de mîine (Editis, Bucharest, 1992) În direct cu NASA (Editura pentru Știință SIT, Bucharest, 2006) Lumea-după-Google (Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 2013)