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There is more and more talk about climate control and geoclimatic warfare, about meteorological warfare and meteorological weapons that can change the face of the Earth. For better or worse. Some areas could be brought back to life and forest fires could be extinguished, but there is also the reverse that these discoveries can be used with bad intentions in some geographical areas.
However, few people know that an internationally famous Romanian chemist and physicist, Ștefania Mărăcinenu, discovered the process of artificially triggering rain. She also founded Romania the university studies in the field of radioactivity, of artificial radioactivity.
“The reward for the researcher who is devoted to science does not come from outside, but the thrills of happiness he has in discovering the truth. I felt these shivers when, in a dark corner of the laboratory, I first saw the sparks given by the lead and when it flashed through my mind that it might be artificial radioactivity. The same divine joy overwhelmed me when I saw the sky darken by magic and the rain falling by the simple action of a radioactive substance. ” Ştefania Mărăcineanu – Radioactivity, May 21, 1936, as it appears in the paper signed by Eng. Dănuț Șerban, “Ştefania Mărăcineanu. Moments from the life of a personality almost unknown “.
Ștefania Mărăcineanu’s destiny is one full of obstacles – she was born in 1882 in a modest family from Bucharest, her father is uncertain, and when she was 10, the little girl appears as an orphan. She attended the Central School for Girls, living at a boarding school. Despite her so vulnerable family situation, young Stefania relies on education as the only solution. In 1910, she graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry and become a teacher of “physical-chemistry” at a girls’ school in Ploiești, then in Bucharest. In 1922, she arrived in Paris, with a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Sciences. Her knowledge helps her get to the labs of the team coordinated by Marie Curie. In 1924, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Sorbonne, on Polonium radioactivity, then remained in Paris until 1930 to continue her research in the field of radioactivity. Here she proves the influence of radioactivity on rainfall and the connection between precipitation and earthquakes.
Despite the offers to stay and work abroad, she came back to Romania and studied meteorological phenomena. The title of her patent (Romanian Royal Patent) is “Means to cause rain”; then in 1931, she succeeded in generating the first artificial rain in Bărăgan Field. With the support of the French government, she reiterated this performance in Algeria. The rain was generated with the help of radioactive substances scattered in the clouds. In the Bărăgan Field, this was possible with the help of the pilot Bâzu Cantacuzino, as reported in the series “100 Romanians for world history”, produced by Radio Romania Regional, in the EU aleg Romania campaign.
The researcher will get cancer, like her predecessor Maria Curie, due to prolonged exposure to radioactive substances.
On June 18 this year, her date of birth, Google Doodle paid tribute to Ștefania Mărăcineanu for her remarkable scientific discoveries. 140 years after the birth of this amazing scientist, The Economic Times pays tribute to the scientific heritage she created. http://youtube.com/watch?v=LGzgztYfB44
Foto: Stefania-maracineanu.ro/National Library of Romania – Historical Collections
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