Șerban Țițeica

Șerban Țițeica (March 27 [O.S. March 14] 1908 – May 28, 1985) was a Romanian quantum physicist. He is regarded as the founder of the Romanian school of theoretical physics.^[1]

The third and last child of mathematician Gheorghe Țițeica, he was born in Bucharest, where he attended Mihai Viteazul High School.^[2] He then went to the University of Bucharest, graduating in 1929 with a degree in Physics and Chemistry and another in Mathematics. That year, he met Enrico Fermi, who gave three talks at his alma mater; upon Fermi's recommendation, he pursued his studies at Leipzig University from 1930 to 1934 under Werner Heisenberg, earning a doctorate in 1935, with thesis "On the behaviour of electrical resistance of metals in magnetic field".^[3][4]

Țițeica taught at Politehnica University of Bucharest from 1935 to 1941 as assistant professor, and was then a professor at the University of Iași (1941–1948) and the University of Bucharest (1949–1977). He became a titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1955, and served as its vice president from 1963 until his death in his native city.^[2]

Țițeica was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and of the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig. He was also the Vice-Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (1962–1964), and a member of the Council of the European Physical Society (1970–1975).^[2] In 1971 he was awarded the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 2rd class.^[5]

He is buried at Bellu Cemetery, in Bucharest.

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