DRAGOMIR ROMANESCU
Institutul Geologic al Romaniei, Bucuresti
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ROMANIAN GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTIONS,
70 YEARS AGO
(Abstract)
At the initiative of the director of the Geological Institute of Romania,
professor Ludovic Mrazec, in December 1925 is founded the Geophysical Prospection
Department, headed by ing. T.P. Ghitulescu. He had been employed at the institute,
a few months earlier, together with Iulian Gavat; they were both fresh graduates
of the Polytechnical School in Bucharest, Mine and Metallurgy section.
In 1926, demonstrations were carried out in the field by some foreign companies,
manufacturers of geological equipment and, in the same year, T.P. Ghitulescu
made a documentation voyage at institutes and university departments in France
(Sorbonne) and Germany (Berlin, Potsdam, Freiburg), as well as at manufacturing
companies, were be purchased some instruments.
1927 is the year of the first geophysical measurements (magnetometric and electrometric)
in the field, in Northern Dobrudja and the SubCarpathian Area.
In 1928, the gravimetric measurements were started, with torsion balance while
the magnetometric and electrometric works were continued and amplified.
Till the end of 1929, the Geophysical Prospection Department of the Geological
Institute of Romania had assimilated:
– the magnetometric method, with 4 variometers,
– partially, the electrometric methods, with 2 torsion balances.
The staff was very efficient and the operation capacity could be easily developed.
There were 9 young engineers, among which Toma Petre Gitulescu, Iulian Gavat,
Mircea Socolescu and Saba Stefanescu composed the basic core of the department.
Saba Stefanescu was to become an inventor in the field of the electrometric
methods theory.
Key words: years 1925 – 1930, Magnetometry, Gravimetry, Electrometry,
the Geological Intitute of Romania, Geophysical Prospection Department.