Ion Ionescu de la Brad

Ionescu was educated in Iași, at the Trei Ierarhi school, and then at the Academia Mihăileană, where he studied with Eftimie Murgu.

Following the idea of the British diplomat David Urquhart, in 1844 Ionescu developed and supported the proposal for the building of an artificial waterway across the Ottoman province of Dobruja, located between the Danube and the Black Sea (Port of Constanța).

Following the failure of the short-lived Moldavian movement in 1848, Ionescu joined Bălcescu in Bucharest as a participant in the unsuccessful revolution in Wallachia.

He served as leader of the radical faction in the commission established to handle land reform.

Ionescu de la Brad was a prolific scholar and writer on agricultural and economic topics, publishing over 40 books and pamphlets and nearly 400 articles.