She was born Lenuța Petrescu into a peasant family in Petrești commune, Dâmbovița County, in the historical region of Wallachia.

After elementary school, she moved along with her brother to Bucharest, where she worked as a laboratory assistant before finding employment in a textile factory.

During a state visit to the People's Republic of China in June 1971, she took note of how Jiang Qing, Chairman Mao Zedong's wife, maintained a position of power.

At the show trial that took place, she answered only a few questions since her husband took a protective role, asked her to calm down, and shook his head each time her mouth opened to reply in anger.

Their actual execution happened so quickly that a military journalist videoing the trial captured only the last round of bullets and the crumpled bodies on the floor.

The aftermath, including echoes of the final volley, the pall of smoke, and the bodies immediately afterward, were also caught on camera.

[11] Ceaușescu was outlived by her mother, a near centenarian at the time of her death, her brother Gheorghe Petrescu (also an important figure in the party) and her three children: Valentin (b.

After graduating from primary school in her village and moving to Bucharest, Ceaușescu continued her education in the 1950s through night courses at the local Politechnic, obtaining a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

[12] Since the Revolutions of 1989, several scientists have claimed that Ceaușescu had forced them to write papers in her name, and that the university gave her the honour of the doctorate solely because of her political position.

She was forced instead to present her thesis to Cristofor I. Simionescu and Ioan Ursu at the University of Iași, where she met with complete success.

She was sometimes nicknamed Codoi, referring to her alleged mispronunciation of the name of the chemical compound CO2 (C for carbon, O for oxygen, and "doi" being Romanian for "two").

Ceaușescu was given many honorary awards for scientific achievement in the field of polymer chemistry during the period when her husband ruled Romania.

[14] Elena Ceaușescu was an Honorary Doctor of several universities and was a member of some academic societies in the United States and countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa.