George Vâlsan

George Vâlsan (January 22, 1885 – August 6, 1935) was a Romanian geographer and writer.

Biography Education and career Born in Bucharest, he attended primary school in Iași and Craiova, and began high school in Pitești. He completed secondary education at the Gheorghe Lazăr High School in Bucharest, graduating in 1904. He then attended the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at the University of Bucharest, obtaining his diploma in 1908. Encouraged by Titu Maiorescu and Simion Mehedinți, he continued his studies of geography in Berlin and, under Emmanuel de Martonne, in Paris.

After returning home, Vâlsan taught high school in Târgu Jiu and Bucharest from 1909 to 1915. In 1916 he obtained a doctorate from the University of Bucharest; his was the first Ph.D. in Geography awarded in Romania. His clear, flowing, well-explained lectures were noted for their effectiveness, in part due to his having taught pedagogy in the early 1910s. Elected a titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1920, he was also a librarian and active member at the Romanian Geographic Society. During the last year of his life, he removed the volumes of the library, scattered in the basement of the Romanian Athenaeum, and set it up on iron shelves in a reading room. "Valea superioară a Prahovei" (1924) was a similarly poetic look at the Bucegi Mountains.

His interests extended to ethnography and folklore. Research he conducted in 1910 with George Giuglea resulted in published work on the Romanians of Serbia. His brochure, O nouă Știință, Etnografia, appeared in 1927.

Literature Vâlsan was also a writer of literature, and his first published work, "Valea Prahovei", appeared in Ziarul Călătoriilor in 1900, when he was 15. He continued to write for Sămănătorul, Convorbiri Literare, Convorbiri Critice, Neamul roomânesc, Drum drept, and Ramuri. His two books were Povestea unei tinereți, a 1924 prose book; and Grădina părăsită (1925). The latter is a collection of over 40 poems, mainly published in 1904 in Sămănătorul and Convorbiri Literare. They tend to be subtle portraits of nature, infused with sunlight. Although Vâlsan suffered much during his life, he attempted to conceal this in his writing. Vâlsan's health began to deteriorate during World War I. In the summer of 1935, he canceled a planned study trip to the Apuseni Mountains, instead heading to Dobruja to receive a large group of Polish tourists. He took advantage of several days' rest at the children's tuberculosis sanatorium in Carmen-Sylva, where he had good relations, and died there.

Legacy Streets in the Crângași neighborhood of Bucharest and in Craiova are named after Vâlsan. A high school in Făurei and a gymnasium in Amara also bear his name.