Anastasie Fătu

Anastasie Fătu (originally Năstase Fêtu or Fĕtu, also known as Anastasius Fétul, Anastasie Fĕtul or Anastase Fătul; January 2, 1816 – March 15, 1886) was a Moldavian and Romanian physician, naturalist, philanthropist and political figure, a titular member of the Romanian Academy and founder of Iași's Botanical Garden. Of lowly origins, he benefited from the meritocratic program instituted by Moldavia's government in the 1830s, and went on to study law at the University of Vienna, with hopes of becoming a political economist. After graduating, he changed his professional path, and trained in medicine at the University of Paris. Recognized for pioneering contributions in cardiology, pediatrics, obstetrics and balneotherapy, he was also an early speaker for public health and social medicine, as well as an educational theorist and textbook author. Fătu's career as a professor of natural sciences took him to the Gregorian Institute, the Socola Monastery school, and ultimately Iași University, where he took steps to create a regional medical school.

In parallel to his career in science, Fătu served one term in the ad hoc Divan (1857–1858), then several in the Parliament of Romania, initially its Assembly of Deputies; he was Assembly Chairman in 1868, and an associate of the Free and Independent Faction during the late 1860s and 1870s, espousing a platform of radical economic antisemitism. By 1878, he was part of the Factionalist chapter which caucused with the National Liberal Party.

Inducted into the Academy in 1871, he became one of its main sponsors, and thus a patron of hard science in Romania. While there, he helped standardize scientific references, and, siding with the partisans of phonemic orthography, participated in the creation of a specialized Romanian vocabulary. Criticized by his adversaries at Junimea society for his accumulation of offices, and for collecting a large salary as curator of Sfântul Spiridon Hospital, Fătu nevertheless donated most of his money to the Academy. The rest of his estate was at the center of legal disputes which lasted into the 1890s. Though largely forgotten within two generations, Fătu survived in cultural memory as a partial inspiration for Zaharia Trahanache, a ridiculous but ultimately likeable figure in Ion Luca Caragiale's political comedy, O scrisoare pierdută.