- LETTERS
In memoriam Prof Ionel Valentin Vlad
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25241/10.25241/stomaeduj.2018.5(1).letter.1
Author: Adrian Podoleanu
Vice President International Commission of Optics
Senior Editor Stomatology Edu Journal
In memoriam
Ionel Valentin Vlad, “Galileo Galilei” Prize winner of the International Commission of Optics (2005), died in Bucharest on 24 December 2017. He was 74.
Ionel Valentin Vlad was the President of the Romanian Academy (the highest academic forum in Romania), since 2014. He was also the Head of the ”Nonlinear and Information Photonics” group in the Laser Department of the National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, as well as Professor at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics.
A distinguished scientist honoured by several prestigious societies and national and international bodies, with a prodigious career in publishing and international conference organisation, he is credited with many milestones and accomplishments as can be read here.
To sum things up, he was a Fellow of the OSA, SPIE, IOP, an Honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova and Honoris Causa of several Romanian Universities.
He was a leader among those who promoted Optics in Romania to the level we know it today. He supported the dissemination of Optics research as chair of many editions of the Romopto international conference.
On a personal note, I was a student of his in 1973, when he taught us “Optical transmission of information”, as an external lecturer coming from a distinguished research institute. He emanated professionalism and rigour which inspired me in choosing optics as my career. Later on, in 1991, we went to San Diego together to meet the SPIE Board to represent the desire of the Romanian optics scientists to establish a Chapter of SPIE in Romania. I traversed together with him some memorable moments in the opening of Eastern Europe towards the rest of the world. He manifested both wisdom and delicacy in handling important moments faced by the Romanian Science community due to the challenges that followed. He was a role model, a true leader in the practice and teaching of Science, as well as in its administration.
Ionel Valentin Vlad will be sorely missed by the Optics Community, by the family of Romanian Physicists. He will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.
Adrian Podoleanu
Vice President International Commission of Optics
Senior Editor Stomatology Edu Journal