Vintilă Ciocâlteu

Vintilă Ciocâlteu, MD, PhD (Romanian pronunciation: [vinˈtilə t͡ʃʲokɨlˈtew]; April 12, 1890 – February 1947) was a Romanian physician, researcher, professor and author.

Ciocâlteu was born in Plenița, Dolj County, Romania. He distinguished himself throughout medical school and was active in the leadership of the student association. Due to his brilliant academic results, he was selected as the recipient of a Rockefeller grant to further his studies at Harvard Medical School in the United States. There, in collaboration with Otto Folin he co-developed the chemical reactive known as the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (FCR).

He returned to Romania as a professor at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest where he laid the foundation of the biochemistry lab. He also set up his own additional private research lab in the vacant former Royal Stables. His credentials combined with the professorial and research activity led to the prestigious nomination as Dean of the medical school.

As an author, he published two poetry volumes and is mentioned in George Călinescu’s Istoria literaturii române de la origini pîna în prezent ("History of Romanian Literature From Its Origins to Nowadays").

In 1945, at the end of World War II and the subsequent advent of the communist era, Ciocâlteu fell out of favor with the new political regime. Progressive intellectuals were not to be trusted, especially those who maintained an independent attitude and were “molded” abroad, and therefore “tainted” by western influence. Many paid with their lives and/or suffered savage years of internment as political detainees for such mistrust.

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