Ioan Mire Melik, or Melic (born Iacob Ioan Miren Melik; August 9, 1840 – January 29, 1889), was a Wallachian, later Romanian mathematician, educator and political figure, one of the early members of Junimea literary society. Known for his work in private education, and for his tenure at the University of Iași, he was the author of several early introductions to science—dealing with arithmetic and geometry, but also with topography and surveying. He was perceived as a bland figure at Junimea meetings, and had little to do with its literary agenda, but took care of administrative chores and, for a while, of its publishing venture.
Taking his cue from the Junimist leadership, Melik followed the literary club as it transformed itself into a liberal conservative party. He represented Iași city in the Assembly of Deputies in the 1884 legislature, and then, under a Junimist government, helped enforce Titu Maiorescu's policies in the educational field. Melik is also remembered as an engineer and entrepreneur, who contributed to the modern history of Costeștii Botoșanilor village, his personal estate.
Biography
Early years
The future scientist was born in Bucharest, the Wallachian capital, on August 9, 1840 (although traditionally believed to have been born on August 15 or August 21, and wrongly credited in some documents as a "Iași native"). He was of Armenian origins: the Meliks traced their origin to Ohan, a Gregorian Armenian clergyman. I. M. Melik's parents were Ohan's son, Arakel "Popovici" Melik, and his wife Maria Gedik; they had two other children: Gavril, a boy, and Anika, a girl. Ohan's other son, Iacob Melic, was a successful architect. The Ottoman statesman Mustafa Reshid Pasha recommended his work to the Wallachian government, but Iacob left the country and settled in Paris. From his new home, Iacob Melik corresponded with the exiled leaders of the 1848 Revolution, in particular the moderate and pro-Ottoman faction of Ion Ghica, Alexandru G. Golescu and Nicolae Pleșoianu.
According to his own testimony, Ioan first attended the Armenian School in Bucharest's Yellow District, and then regular school in that same neighborhood. From 1854 to 1856, he completed secondary school at the Saint Sava College and was, in his own account, an award-winning student. From 1856, Iacob Melik took over the boy's education, taking him to Imperial France. Young Melik was tutored at a private boarding house (1857), before enlisting at the University of Paris Medical School, but changed his mind and applied for the École des Mines de Paris (1860). He finished school in 1864, and worked for a short while at salt mines in France and Belgium.
Melik's work took him to Moldavia, which, in 1859, had federated with Wallachia into the United Principalities. The regime of Domnitor Alexander John Cuza assigned him to inspect the Moldavian salt mines, at Slănic and Târgu Ocna. Known to his Iași colleagues and friends as Mirmilic, he began attending the Junimea club in 1865, being one of the outside sympathizers of the cause, and manifestly lacking literary ambitions. Iacob Negruzzi, the Junimea co-founder and biographer of its members, asserted: "[Melik was] once a passionate Junimist, but always kept silent." Negruzzi jokingly added that the standard estimate, according to which the maths teacher had uttered some 23 words at club meetings held between 1865 and 1880, was probably exaggerated in Melik's favor. Literary historian George Călinescu suggests that Melik, like astronomer Niculae Culianu or schoolteacher Pavel Paicu, only came to Junimea "out of devotion or for the sake of entertainment". The mathematician was notorious for not having published a single line in the Junimist tribune, Convorbiri Literare.
Junimist projects
With his Junimist credentials, Melik was made substitute Professor of Mathematics at Iași University (February 23, 1865). He acquired tenure in April 1866, shortly after Cuza's regime had been replaced by a Princely Lieutenancy. Soon after receiving this honor, Melik became a conservative ally of the Junimist Rector, Titu Maiorescu, helping him do battle with the University's well connected liberal club. As noted Călinescu, the University's Junimist circle was formed around Professors Melik, Culianu, I. Neguzzi, Ioan Caragiani and Nicolae Mandrea, with Junimea itself being "a political get-together with some cultural aspects."