George Magheru

George Magheru (–August 17, 1952) was a Romanian poet and playwright.

Born in Craiova, his parents were Colonel Romulus G. Magheru, the son of General Gheorghe Magheru; and his wife Ana, the daughter of Ion Ghica. After his father's death when he was four, he was raised at the Ghica family's estate in Ghergani, where he received a rich musical and literary education. Alexandrina Ghica, his grandmother, was an accomplished pianist who had studied with Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann; his mother had studied fine arts in London. He attended Saint George primary school in Bucharest, followed by Gheorghe Lazăr High School, from which he graduated in 1911. The same year, he entered the medical faculty of the University of Bucharest, from which he would graduate in 1920. Meanwhile, Romania's entry into World War I in 1916 found him a sixth-year student, and Magheru left for the front as a second lieutenant combat medic. He contracted a recurring fever and epidemic typhus, but refused to take leave and remained in the war-torn Moldavia region until demobilization. After obtaining his degree, he began to conduct research at the , where he would spend his entire career. Together with his wife Alice, a microbiologist, he wrote numerous specialized texts. Much of his late work has yet to be studied and published. In 1982, Marin Sorescu published part of his manuscript poems as Cântece la marginea nopții.

Works