Dimitrie Isopescu

Dimitrie C. Isopescu (October 3, 1839 – May 1, 1901) was an Austro-Hungarian teacher and politician.

Biography Born into an ethnic Romanian family in Frătăuții Vechi, in the Bukovina region of the Austrian Empire, his parents were the Romanian Orthodox priest Constantin and his wife Ana (née Brăilean), a native of nearby Bilca. He had two brothers, Gheorghe and Nicolae. After attending primary school in Rădăuți, he enrolled in the high school at Czernowitz (Cernăuți); Initially studying theology according to the family tradition, he abandoned this discipline after a year, due to a lack of vocation. In 1860, he entered the University of Vienna with a wish to pursue a career as a teacher. He graduated from the history and geography faculty in 1864. The same year, he was hired as a teacher in those subjects at the Greek Orthodox Gymnasium in Suceava, remaining there for five years. In 1869, he transferred to the Czernowitz Gymnasium, and was elected a member of the provincial school council. In addition to textbooks, his writings include pedagogical and historical works; some were published, while others remain in manuscript.

In the summer of 1900, some months before the Austrian election of 1900-1901, there was a split among the Romanian politicians of Bukovina. One faction, led by the youthful firebrands Iancu Flondor and George Popovici, favored confrontation with the authorities; another, headed by Ioan von Volcinschi, was made up of older men who preferred accommodation. The latter group ran Isopescu as its candidate against Popovici, and he won the contest for a seat in the Austrian House of Deputies. He died of heart disease in Vienna shortly thereafter.

Publications Beziehungen Karls des Großen zu den Saracenen in Spanien und zu den abbasidischen Chalifen von Bagdad. Czernowitz, 1869. Das Theorem der Fourier'schen Reihen. Czernowitz, 1873. Schematismus der Bukowiner Volksschulen und Lehrer, zusammengestellt auf Grundlage amtlicher Daten. Bukowiner Landeslehrerverein, Czernowitz, 1894.