Liviu Librescu

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Liviu Librescu (born August 18, 1930 in Ploieşti , Romania ; † April 16, 2007 in Blacksburg , Virginia ) was an aeronautical engineer from Romania with Israeli and US citizenship. He was a professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University .

Memorial stone for Liviu Librescu at Virginia Tech .

Liviu Librescu lived as a Jew during the Second World War in Romania, an ally of Germany . During this time he survived the deportation to a concentration camp in Transnistria and then to a ghetto in Focșani . He studied aircraft construction at the Bucharest Polytechnic University . In 1952 he finished his studies. In 1969 he received his doctorate from the Academia de Științe din România with a thesis on fluid dynamics . Between 1953 and 1975 he worked at various institutes of the Romanian Academy of Sciences. Librescu was hindered in practicing his religion in Romania, so that he and his wife emigrated to Israel in 1978 . In 1986 they first went to the USA for a sabbatical year , but then stayed in the country permanently. Librescu later received US citizenship and taught as a professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University . During the rampage at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, he confronted and was killed by the gunman, 23-year-old student Cho Seung-Hui . In doing so, however, he saved the lives of many students who were able to flee in the meantime.

Librescu was honored posthumously in his former homeland. Romanian President Traian Băsescu awarded him the Grand Cross of the Star of Romania , which represents the highest state order in Romania, for his life's work and his behavior during the assassination .

Fonts

  • Elastostatics and Kinetics of Anisotropic and Heterogeneous Shell-Type Structures. Springer, Berlin 1975 (Mechanics of Elastic Stability, Vol. 2) ISBN 90-286-0035-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Loeb: Holocaust Survivor Slaughtered On Yom Hashoah. In: The Philadelphia Jewish Voice. May 23, 2007.
  2. ↑ Lecturer from Israel saved students' lives . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . April 17, 2007.
  3. ↑ The hero of Norris Hall . In: Spiegel online . April 17, 2007.
  4. ↑ Preşedintele României of 18 April 2007 , accessed on 26 January 2011 (Romanian).
personal data
SURNAME Librescu, Liviu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American aerospace engineer
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Ploieşti , Romania
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 2007
Place of death Blacksburg , Virginia, USA