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.
Biography
Early life and studies abroad
While he remains fundamentally associated with the city of Iași, Fătu was actually born just to the south of it, at Mușata, Fălciu County—presently Vaslui County—on January 2, 1816 (Old Style: December 21, 1815). He had a younger brother, Iacob, who worked alongside Costache Conachi as a translator of literature. Their father, born into a peasant family, was a parson of the Moldavian Orthodox Metropolis. After finishing primary school in Huși, at the school maintained by the Orthodox bishopric, Anastasie passed an examination and received a scholarship for Iași's Vasilian Gymnasium, thus profiting from a meritocratic shift in Moldavian society. As noted by historian A. D. Xenopol, Moldavian Prince Mihail Sturdza and his adviser Gheorghe Asachi were tacitly encouraging "people from the lower strata of society" to acquire and education, and then to take up employment in the state apparatus, at the expense of boyardom. Scholar V. A. Urechia also records the "great diversity of origin" at the Vasilian boarding school, arguing that it was a positive contribution to Romania's culture.
From 1834, one of six Moldavians to have qualified for a scholarship from the banker-philanthropist Hagi Constantin Popp, Fătu was sent abroad, on condition that, upon graduating, he would return the favor by teaching a public "course in philosophy, law and political economy". He went on to study in the Austrian Empire at the University of Vienna. Another scholarship recipient was Anton Velini, who remained his friend in later years, and with whom he studied law, physics and mathematics as an undergraduate. It was also here that Fătu met ethnic Romanians from Austria's Bukovina District—Constantin Wassilko and the Hurmuzachi brothers, and, to some degree, also associated with students from Transylvania; together, they established a pan-Romanian club. After taking his Doctorate of Law, and also auditing courses at Vienna Medical Faculty (1839–1841), Fătu received permission from the Moldavian government to continue his studies in France; he enlisted at the University of Paris medical school, but remained in contact with the Vienna expatriates. By August 1846, he was friends with two other Moldavian youths in Paris, all three active politically: Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Scarlat Vârnav, and Nicolae Ionescu. His friends at home included fellow naturalist Ion Ionescu de la Brad, who noted admiringly that Fătu was "enamored with his studies", and an inspiration to the other Moldavians.