Ioan Cantacuzino (1863-1934)

Romanian scholar, physician and bacteriologist. He was Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest, member of the Romanian Academy, the founder of the institute bearing his name and of the modern Romanian microbiology school and experimental medicine school.

His view of the life phenomena was a materialistic view. He was against finalism and a fervent adherent of the biological determinism, while being a declared Darwinian. Being one of Mecinikov's disciples, he devoted part of his researches to further studying his master's favourite subjects (the phagocytes problem, the problem of immunity with invertebrates, the problem of a mechanism for the body protection against pathogens). Also he had significant results in studying on cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, etc. He invented the notion of contact immunity. During the 1913 war he took to establishing measures for stopping the spread of cholera, and during the first World War, as superintendent of sanitary, military and civil services, he took the necessary measures for fighting the terrible outbreak of typhus.

He founded the "Review of Medical Sciences" and "Archives roumaines de pathologie expérimentale". He contributed to the literary review "Viata Romaneasca".

Last update: 2004, October 27
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