Abstract:
The activity of professor and chemist Petru Poni laid the basis of the academic and scientific education in Romania in the field of chemistry. His most famous work is the one pertaining to the chemistry of Romanian oil. Petru Poni undertook the task to establish the chemical composition of oil and successfully accomplished it. His works on petrol (“Researches on the chemical composition of Romanian oils” – Annals of the Romanian Academy, 1901, “Action of nitric acid in different concentrations, under pressure, on the isopentane” – Scientific Annals of the University of Jassy, etc.) were published in scientific magazines of international distribution and contributed to the knowledge of the rich resources of the Romanian subsoil. He was a member of the International Oil Committee (1908), together with other great personalities of the Romanian science: Constantin Istrati PhD, Ludovic Mrazek.