Scientific collaboration of the Society of Medicine and Natural Science in Jassy with prominent European scientists during the first decades of its existence
Brodel, E.G.; Ionescu, C.
Revista medico-chirurgicala a Societatii de Medici si Naturalisti din Iasi 111(4): 1094-1100
2007
ISSN/ISBN: 0048-7848 PMID: 18389812 Document Number: 612522
This article details the scientific collaboration of the Society of Medicine and Natural Science in Jassy with prominent European scientists during the first decades of its existence. The intensity of the scientific contacts of the Society of Medicine and Natural Science in Jassy arise from detailed analysis of the correspondence that outlasts time in the state archive of Jassy. 75% of this correspondence was written in German, and most of it was sent from the German Confederate or the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. This influence and contribution of German science in Moldavian natural science development, was undoubtedly in the first half of the 19th century. This can be attributed to dr. Iacob Cihac, one of the founders of the Society, who was born in Aschaffenburg (Germany) and studied medicine in Heidelberg (Germany), before he moved to Moldavia. Based on the initiative of drs. Cihac and Zotta, and not least the financial support of a part of the Moldavian high class and the Moldavian government, the Society of Medicine and Natural Science in Jassy was founded in 1833. This became the first scientific society in the territory of modern Romania. Since the inception of the Moldavian Society of Medicine and Natural Science in Jassy, it has pushed the boundaries of a simple scientific society. This society provides an encyclopedic framework of most of the scientific subjects of the 19th century (medicine, pharmacy, natural science, agronomy, paleontology and geology). It played a major role during the democratization of the Moldavian education system, for example by founding a medical school teaching in the Romanian language in Jassy. The society survived and continued to maintain scientific activities during all the political changes in Moldavia during the 19th century, particularly the revolution of 1848 and the unification process of Romania. The influence and activity of the society in Jassy has continued to make a significant contribution to science and education development in Romania, until today.