Teodor Negoita
Encyclopedia
Teodor Gheorghe Negoiţă (September 27, 1947 March 23, 2011) was a polar region explorer. In 1995, he became the first Romania
n explorer to reach the North Pole. He later ran the first permanent Romanian research and exploration station in Antarctica, the Law-Racovita Station
, which he established in 2006.
town, located in the Bacău County
. Because his parents were teachers, Teodor was fortunate to have a library at home which contained a lot of old books on travel. Even at that young age, he was fascinated by the description of some expeditions in the most difficult regions of the globe.
Later on, he attended the Industrial Chemistry College of Iaşi, graduating as a chemical engineer
. He also engaged in the technical part of science, trying to bring new modifications to some big installations. After that he was transferred to Bucharest
at a Design and Research institute.
He died on March 23, 2011.
, and he was most interested in the equatorial forest, Amazon
and New Guinea
. In his free time, he studied in particular a group of pygmies from Equatorial Africa
. At that time, he was corresponding with a Catholic institute from Paris which sent him the documentation he needed, but it was impossible for Negoiţă do field research.
He found refuge in a domain that he could improve in his country: speleological science. He was 33 when he learned on his own about alpine speleology. His major field of interest was vertical caves, which with a depth of 200–300 meters, were not well researched.
His passion for speleology evolved later into ice caves. He managed to get the best speleology equipment of the time, brought in from Czechoslovakia
. Teodor Negoita felt that he needed to develop more than a solitary passion, so he initiated a more consistent project. In 1987, he founded the first Romanian Institute of Polar Research. However, his first attempts at obtaining financing failed, and only in 1990 did he finally manage to realize something tangible monetarily speaking.
in Greenland
, the far North of Canada
, and Spitsbergen
island in the (Svalbard) archipelago. He created teams in various domains, these being the first Romanian teams that acted over the borders in a varied structure, including geographers, geologists, engineers, doctors, and biologists.
He went on his own in Greenland and Spitsbergen (Svalbard) archipelago, on his skis approximately 300 km through the frozen lands.
Since his first expedition, he established the contact with Danish
, Norwegian
, Canadian and Russia
n researches, with the intention that his Romanian research group not follow the research paths of other countries, but to make original research, that would distinguish the Romanian innovation.
In 1994, he established the Romanian Institute of Polar Research as a private institution, with the intention of gathering scientists from various domains with the passion for polar exploration. The research incomes are provided by sponsors and government and European money, through the research projects that the foundation attends to. After 1995 he ran the Romanian future expeditions.
Teodor Negoiţă trained for a more than a year to make an expedition to the North Pole (on skies) during a Russian research expedition. Thus he improved his physical condition, so that he was able to ski for hundreds of kilometers, to resist the cold and to pull a sled that weighs 50-100 kilograms. He would train eight hours a day by pulling up to two tires, to make an exact simulation of sled to the North Pole.
On April 21, 1995, the explorer Teodor Negoiţă became the first Romanian explorer to reach the North Pole on skis during the Russian expedition. He is the only Romanian thus far to have ever reached Fram’s land.
At the same time Teodor Negoiţă became a doctor in chemistry, by defending a PhD
thesis titled: "Pollution control in Arctic and Antarctic areas".
In December 2000, Romanian President Emil Constantinescu
awarded Teodor Negoiţă the Star of Romania Medal - degree of officer.
From 2000, Teodor Negoiţă has the honor of having the opening speech at the Antarctic Treaty organized at London, in front of representatives of 43 countries. The goal of this meeting was to regulate the naval rules in Antarctic Seas, the main argues regarding the Romanian, USA and Great Britain essays. Negoiţă presented the study “Directions concerning maritime Antarctic transport and environment pollution”.
With the occasion of the annual meeting of the Antarctic Treaty, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 2005, an agreement was signed with Australia
which gave to the Romanian Antarctic Foundation
, led by Teodor Negoiţă, one of their research bases from the Antarctic east coast. The signing of this agreement took place in the presence of ambassadors of the two countries: Romania and Australia.
Having the purpose to reopen the station from Antarctica, Teodor Negoiţă made his 13th expedition in the polar regions, spending two months and a half in the Antarctic continent, in an exploration team made of two women, researchers in biology and biochemistry domains, the first Romanian women in Antarctic. The purpose of the expedition was, besides taking control of the station, to get ground samples, sediments and micro-organisms from the frozen continent.
On January 13, 2006, the Law-Racovita Station
was opened—Romania's first permanent research and exploration station in Antarctica.
The Romanian Antarctic Research Base Law-Racovita was handed over to Romania by the Australian Antarctic Division
.
The Romanian research base in Antarctic carries both the name of the first Australian researcher that explored the east of the Antarctic, Phillip Law
, and the name of the first biologist that studied living in Antarctica, Emil Racovita
. It was founded in 1989 by the Australian Government, nowadays the antipodes country runs another 3 research stations in the region.
"It is a first time in the Romanian Antarctic research, the country that signed the 1971 Antarctic Treaty which gives us the right to use the far south of Antarctica, in peaceful purposes. It is much easier for a country with a global position like Romania to reopen an older base than building a new one." said Teodor Negoiţă at the opening of the station.
As a result of using this station, the yearly travel and maintaining costs of a Romanian expedition are estimated to be around 20,000 dollars.
The station is established in Princess Elisabeth region, in the Larsemann Hills
in the East Antarctica at a close distance, 2 km from the Russian Federation and Chinese stations, resulting a close cooperation with the researchers of this countries, allowing experience exchange.
The research station is positioned in a rocky region, not an icy one. It offers numerous access possibilities on the Antarctic icecap both for walking and using endless track.
The Law–Racoviţă station houses the first Romanian research team since 2006, at the beginning of the southern region. Romanian research team intends to do bioprospecting, ecological and weather forecast, the measuring seismic and geomagnetic activity, gathering data regarding radio communication interference.
The Romanian research station is built from anti-corrosive and thermo-isolating materials, it consists of a laboratory, a radio station, five bedrooms and a fuel depot.
Negoiţă expressed his desires to do research on the Larsemann hills, having the purpose of gathering samples from soil and lakes, to carry out medical tests, pollution studies and climate changes. He was also interested in gathering micro-organisms and meteorites samples from ice.
Negoiţă expressed his disappointment regarding the lack of funds for organizing these expedition. The total expedition cost for 3 researchers, to mobilise for 3 months on the Antarctic land, rise up to 25,000 euro.
He said, "I started to cry on my one in the middle of the frozen Iceland – thinking of the luck of the Chinese and Russian researchers were having. From the point of view of the attention that we are given from the state, we are behind even Bulgarians. They get 300,000 dollars per each year from the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs."
Most of the European countries, including the former-socialist countries, Russia, Ukraine or Bulgaria, hold the research institutes under the patronage of the local Academy and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Romania does not have any government institute in this domain, but a private institute, independent from the Government and the Academy, Romanian Institute of Polar Research, the personal is made up of 10 researchers.
The Romanian Academy gave as a reason not to fund an institute the small number of researchers. Negoiţă sustained that the members of Academy are misinformed, there are 20 researchers in Romania at the current time, of which ten are employees of Romanian Polar Research Institute.
His books include:
in December 2000 and, in 2008, he was promoted to the rank of Commander in that Order.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n explorer to reach the North Pole. He later ran the first permanent Romanian research and exploration station in Antarctica, the Law-Racovita Station
Law-Racovita Station
Law-Racoviță Station is the first permanent Romanian station for research and exploration in Antarctica, named after the Romanian explorer Emil Racoviță and inaugurated on January 13, 2006 at the location of a station constructed in 1986 by Australia and donated to Romania...
, which he established in 2006.
Biography
Teodor Gheorghe Negoiţă was born on September 27, 1947 in the SascutSascut
Sascut is a commune in Bacău County, Romania. It is composed of seven villages: Bereşti, Conţeşti, Pănceşti, Sascut, Sascut-Sat, Schineni and Valea Nacului....
town, located in the Bacău County
Bacau County
Bacău is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeş-Făget, in Transylvania.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 706,623 and the population density was 113/km²....
. Because his parents were teachers, Teodor was fortunate to have a library at home which contained a lot of old books on travel. Even at that young age, he was fascinated by the description of some expeditions in the most difficult regions of the globe.
Later on, he attended the Industrial Chemistry College of Iaşi, graduating as a chemical engineer
Chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work...
. He also engaged in the technical part of science, trying to bring new modifications to some big installations. After that he was transferred to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
at a Design and Research institute.
He died on March 23, 2011.
Speleological science
Teodor Negoita had a passion for ethnologyEthnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
, and he was most interested in the equatorial forest, Amazon
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. In his free time, he studied in particular a group of pygmies from Equatorial Africa
Equatorial Africa
Equatorial Africa is an ambiguous term that is sometimes used to refer to tropical Africa, or the region of Sub-Saharan Africa traversed by the equator....
. At that time, he was corresponding with a Catholic institute from Paris which sent him the documentation he needed, but it was impossible for Negoiţă do field research.
He found refuge in a domain that he could improve in his country: speleological science. He was 33 when he learned on his own about alpine speleology. His major field of interest was vertical caves, which with a depth of 200–300 meters, were not well researched.
His passion for speleology evolved later into ice caves. He managed to get the best speleology equipment of the time, brought in from Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Teodor Negoita felt that he needed to develop more than a solitary passion, so he initiated a more consistent project. In 1987, he founded the first Romanian Institute of Polar Research. However, his first attempts at obtaining financing failed, and only in 1990 did he finally manage to realize something tangible monetarily speaking.
North Pole expeditions
Teodor Negoiţă organized many Romanian expeditions in the frozen areas around the North PoleNorth Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, the far North of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
island in the (Svalbard) archipelago. He created teams in various domains, these being the first Romanian teams that acted over the borders in a varied structure, including geographers, geologists, engineers, doctors, and biologists.
He went on his own in Greenland and Spitsbergen (Svalbard) archipelago, on his skis approximately 300 km through the frozen lands.
Since his first expedition, he established the contact with Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Canadian and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n researches, with the intention that his Romanian research group not follow the research paths of other countries, but to make original research, that would distinguish the Romanian innovation.
In 1994, he established the Romanian Institute of Polar Research as a private institution, with the intention of gathering scientists from various domains with the passion for polar exploration. The research incomes are provided by sponsors and government and European money, through the research projects that the foundation attends to. After 1995 he ran the Romanian future expeditions.
Teodor Negoiţă trained for a more than a year to make an expedition to the North Pole (on skies) during a Russian research expedition. Thus he improved his physical condition, so that he was able to ski for hundreds of kilometers, to resist the cold and to pull a sled that weighs 50-100 kilograms. He would train eight hours a day by pulling up to two tires, to make an exact simulation of sled to the North Pole.
On April 21, 1995, the explorer Teodor Negoiţă became the first Romanian explorer to reach the North Pole on skis during the Russian expedition. He is the only Romanian thus far to have ever reached Fram’s land.
South Pole expeditions
After the North Pole expedition Negoiţă turned his attention to Antarctica.Antarctica is the only harsh environment on the planet. Here we find the driest atmosphere on the planet, this provide high quality astronomical studies, atmospheres studies, research regarding climate changes, magnetism research. Over Antarctics lies the largest ozone hole, research regarding pollution can be made at this place, from here we can sample a lot of meteorites, find new minerals, some with special qualities that can become source for new technology. Antarctic is also a “biological laboratory“, extremely interesting for wild life research.
At the same time Teodor Negoiţă became a doctor in chemistry, by defending a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
thesis titled: "Pollution control in Arctic and Antarctic areas".
In December 2000, Romanian President Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu was President of Romania from 1996 to 2000.He graduated from the law school of the University of Bucharest, and subsequently started a career as a geologist...
awarded Teodor Negoiţă the Star of Romania Medal - degree of officer.
Founder of the first Romanian research station in Antarctica
Teodor Negoiţă’s steps to build a Romanian exploration station in Antarctica started in 1997, when he began to publish research essays at the “Antarctic Treaty”, of which Romania became a member in 1971.From 2000, Teodor Negoiţă has the honor of having the opening speech at the Antarctic Treaty organized at London, in front of representatives of 43 countries. The goal of this meeting was to regulate the naval rules in Antarctic Seas, the main argues regarding the Romanian, USA and Great Britain essays. Negoiţă presented the study “Directions concerning maritime Antarctic transport and environment pollution”.
With the occasion of the annual meeting of the Antarctic Treaty, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 2005, an agreement was signed with Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
which gave to the Romanian Antarctic Foundation
Fundaţia Antarctică Română
Fundaţia Antarctică Română is a Romanian research institutethat manages Romania's Polar research.The Foundation is one of the partners working on the Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis....
, led by Teodor Negoiţă, one of their research bases from the Antarctic east coast. The signing of this agreement took place in the presence of ambassadors of the two countries: Romania and Australia.
After more than 100 years, I brought Racoviţă back in Antarctic regions. The greatest achievement of my career was when I took from the base from the Australians. I got so emotional, that I couldn’t even signed.
Having the purpose to reopen the station from Antarctica, Teodor Negoiţă made his 13th expedition in the polar regions, spending two months and a half in the Antarctic continent, in an exploration team made of two women, researchers in biology and biochemistry domains, the first Romanian women in Antarctic. The purpose of the expedition was, besides taking control of the station, to get ground samples, sediments and micro-organisms from the frozen continent.
On January 13, 2006, the Law-Racovita Station
Law-Racovita Station
Law-Racoviță Station is the first permanent Romanian station for research and exploration in Antarctica, named after the Romanian explorer Emil Racoviță and inaugurated on January 13, 2006 at the location of a station constructed in 1986 by Australia and donated to Romania...
was opened—Romania's first permanent research and exploration station in Antarctica.
The Romanian Antarctic Research Base Law-Racovita was handed over to Romania by the Australian Antarctic Division
Australian Antarctic Division
The Australian Antarctic Division is an agency of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . The division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean...
.
The Romanian research base in Antarctic carries both the name of the first Australian researcher that explored the east of the Antarctic, Phillip Law
Phillip Law
Phillip Garth Law AC, CBE, FAA was an Australian scientist and explorer who served as director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions from 1949 to 1966.-Early life:...
, and the name of the first biologist that studied living in Antarctica, Emil Racovita
Emil Racovita
Emil Racoviţă was a Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica.Together with Grigore Antipa, he was one of the most noted promoters of natural sciences in Romania...
. It was founded in 1989 by the Australian Government, nowadays the antipodes country runs another 3 research stations in the region.
"It is a first time in the Romanian Antarctic research, the country that signed the 1971 Antarctic Treaty which gives us the right to use the far south of Antarctica, in peaceful purposes. It is much easier for a country with a global position like Romania to reopen an older base than building a new one." said Teodor Negoiţă at the opening of the station.
As a result of using this station, the yearly travel and maintaining costs of a Romanian expedition are estimated to be around 20,000 dollars.
The station is established in Princess Elisabeth region, in the Larsemann Hills
Larsemann Hills
Larsemann Hills are a series of low rounded snow-free coastal hills along the SE shore of Prydz Bay. The hills extend W for 9 mi from Dalk Glacier. Discovered in February 1935 by Captain Klarius Mikkelsen from the whaling ship Thorshavn, sent out by Norwegian whaling magnate Lars Christensen, and...
in the East Antarctica at a close distance, 2 km from the Russian Federation and Chinese stations, resulting a close cooperation with the researchers of this countries, allowing experience exchange.
The research station is positioned in a rocky region, not an icy one. It offers numerous access possibilities on the Antarctic icecap both for walking and using endless track.
The Law–Racoviţă station houses the first Romanian research team since 2006, at the beginning of the southern region. Romanian research team intends to do bioprospecting, ecological and weather forecast, the measuring seismic and geomagnetic activity, gathering data regarding radio communication interference.
The Romanian research station is built from anti-corrosive and thermo-isolating materials, it consists of a laboratory, a radio station, five bedrooms and a fuel depot.
Later plans
Of the 13 polar expeditions which he participated in, eight were led and organized by Teodor Negoiţă. Five of his Romanian companions lost their lives during the first expedition, when strong winds caused the helicopter to crash.Negoiţă expressed his desires to do research on the Larsemann hills, having the purpose of gathering samples from soil and lakes, to carry out medical tests, pollution studies and climate changes. He was also interested in gathering micro-organisms and meteorites samples from ice.
Negoiţă expressed his disappointment regarding the lack of funds for organizing these expedition. The total expedition cost for 3 researchers, to mobilise for 3 months on the Antarctic land, rise up to 25,000 euro.
He said, "I started to cry on my one in the middle of the frozen Iceland – thinking of the luck of the Chinese and Russian researchers were having. From the point of view of the attention that we are given from the state, we are behind even Bulgarians. They get 300,000 dollars per each year from the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs."
Most of the European countries, including the former-socialist countries, Russia, Ukraine or Bulgaria, hold the research institutes under the patronage of the local Academy and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Romania does not have any government institute in this domain, but a private institute, independent from the Government and the Academy, Romanian Institute of Polar Research, the personal is made up of 10 researchers.
The Romanian Academy gave as a reason not to fund an institute the small number of researchers. Negoiţă sustained that the members of Academy are misinformed, there are 20 researchers in Romania at the current time, of which ten are employees of Romanian Polar Research Institute.
Published papers
Negoiţă published over 28 scientific papers. To promote his activity he choose to use the belletristic style that the Romanian large public to became interested in this fascinated domain of actual science.His books include:
- Science on ice .With Chinese people in Antarctica (2005), written on the base of his journal keep up during the 130 days of the winter of 2002-2003, when Teodor Negoiţă participated of the 19th Chinese expedition in the extremely South Pole continent.
Honours and awards
Negoiţă was appointed an Officer in the Order of the Star of RomaniaOrder of the Star of Romania
The Order of the Star of Romania is Romania's highest civil order. It is awarded by the President of Romania...
in December 2000 and, in 2008, he was promoted to the rank of Commander in that Order.
External links
- Cariere, 18 aprilie 2006 - Teodor Negoiţă: Visul unei nopţi polare - Să păşească pe pământ românesc la capătul lumii
- Jurnalul Naţional - Suflet în pustiu sticlos
- Evenimentul Zilei, 22 februarie 2006 - Printre gheţarii Antarcticii
- Univers ingineresc nr. 22/2005 - Dr.ing. Teodor Gh. Negoiţă s-a întors din Antarctica
- Cotidianul - Guvernul nu dă nici un pol pe românii de la Polul Sud
- Cine se teme de Antarctica?
See also
- Law-Racovita StationLaw-Racovita StationLaw-Racoviță Station is the first permanent Romanian station for research and exploration in Antarctica, named after the Romanian explorer Emil Racoviță and inaugurated on January 13, 2006 at the location of a station constructed in 1986 by Australia and donated to Romania...