Dumitru Dan

Dumitru (Demetre) Dan (14 July 1890 – 4 December 1978) was a Romanian geographer, professor of geography, and globe-trotter. He was best known for his fabricated tale about walking around the world.

Dan's around the world tale According to Dan, in 1908, the Touring club de France announced a contest for walking around the world, with an offered prize of 100,000 francs. Dumitru Dan and his countrymen Paul Pârvu, George Negreanu and Alexandru Pascu were all students in Paris at the time, and they decided to take up the challenge, using their own money and resources.

The group returned to Romania to prepare, learning additional languages, studying cartography, and doing weight training and exercises for two hours a day.

Legacy and later life Dan died in Buzău, Romania in 1978. He is buried in the Heroes' Cemetery. In 1985, his false record was entered into the Guinness Book, never verified at that time, and later removed.