Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu
OM Zamfirescu was born in Galați, Romania on 10 November 1887. Her father, Atanase Leonida, was a career officer while her mother, Matilda Gill, was the daughter of a French-born engineer. Her brother was the engineer Dimitrie Leonida.
Due to prejudices against women in the sciences, Zamfirescu was rejected by the School of Bridges and Roads in Bucharest. In 1909 she was accepted at the Royal Academy of Technology Berlin, Charlottenburg. She graduated in 1912, with a degree in engineering. It has been claimed that Zamfirescu was the world's first female engineer, but the Irish engineer Alice Perry graduated six years before Zamfirescu in 1906.
Returning to Romania, Zamfirescu worked as an assistant at the Geological Institute of Romania. During World War I, she joined the Red Cross. Around this time, she met and married chemist Constantin Zamfirescu, brother of writer Duiliu Zamfirescu.
After the war, Zamfirescu returned to the Geological Institute. She led several geology laboratories and participated in various field studies, including some that identified new resources of coal, shale, natural gas, chromium, bauxite and copper. Zamfirescu also taught physics and chemistry.
Zamfirescu retired in 1963, aged 75. She died at the age of 86 on 25 November 1973.
Honours and awards
Zamfirescu was the first woman member of A.G.I.R. (General Association of Romanian Engineers).
A street in Sector 1 of Bucharest bears her name.
She was the subject of a Google Doodle for her 131st birthday on 10 November 2018.
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