100 Greatest Romanians

TV show's logo

Stephen the Great, commemorated on some stamps from 2004, the winner of the contest

In 2006, Romanian Television (Televiziunea Română, TVR) conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considered the 100 Greatest Romanians of all time, in a version of the British TV show 100 greatest Britons. The resulting series, Great Romanians (Romanian: Mari Români), included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme. It concluded with a debate. On 21 October, TVR announced that the "greatest Romanian of all time" according to the voting was Stephen the Great.

The list

1. Stephen the Great (1435-1504) - prince of Moldavia won renown in Europe for his long resistance to the Ottoman Turks
2. Carol I (1839 – 1914) - the first Romanian ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty (1866 - 1914), the first King of Romania (since 1881) after the country acquired full independence under his leadership
3. Mihai Eminescu (1850 – 1889) - late Romantic poet, widely considered to be the most influential Romanian poet
4. Mihai Viteazul (1558 – 1601) - Prince of Wallachia, he achieved the first union of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia (the three principalities largely inhabited by Romanians)
5. Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) - evangelical Christian minister, author and educator who spent a total of fourteen years in communist prison
6. Ion Antonescu (1882 – 1946) - the prime minister and leader of Romania during World War II
7. Mircea Eliade (1907 – 1986) - researcher and professor of the history of religions, Orientalist and novelist
8. Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1820 – 1873) - the first ruler of the United Principalities of Romania after the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859; his reforms started the modernization of Romania
9. Constantin Brâncuși (1876 – 1957) - famous modern sculptor
10. Nadia Comăneci (1961 – ) - gymnast, winner of five Olymices scoring gold and the first person to ever score a ten. '
11. Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918 – 1989) - last communist president of Romania
12. Vlad Țepeș (1431 – 1476) - Prince of Wallachia
13. Gigi Becali (1958 – ) - politician and businessman, football club owner
14. Henri Coandă (1886 – 1972) - inventor and aerodynamics pioneer
15. Gheorghe Hagi (1965 – ) - football player
16. Ion Luca Caragiale (1852 – 1912) - playwright and short story writer
17. Nicolae Iorga (1871 – 1940) - historian, writer, and politician
18. Constantin Brâncoveanu (1654 – 1714) - Prince of Wallachia
19. George Enescu (1881 – 1955) - composer and musician
20. Gregorian Bivolaru (1952 – ) - founder of MISA yoga organization
21. Mirel Rădoi (1980 – ) - football player
22. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899 – 1938) - leader of a Romanian nationalist movement during the 30s
23. Nicolae Titulescu (1882 – 1941) - diplomat, president of the League of Nations
24. Ferdinand I of Romania (1865 – 1927) - King of Romania during World War I
25. Mihai I (1921 – ) - last King of Romania before communist period
26. Decebalus (87 – 106) - last King of Dacia before Roman conquest
27. Traian Băsescu (1951 – ) - politician, former President of Romania
28. Gheorghe Mureșan (1971 – ) - NBA basketball player
29. Ion I. C. Brătianu (1864 – 1927) - liberal politician, Prime Minister of Romania for five terms
30. Răzvan Lucescu (1969 – ) football player and football club manager
31. Nicolae Paulescu (1869 – 1931) - physiologist, the discoverer of insulin
32. Iuliu Maniu (1873 – 1953) - politician
33. Iuliu Hossu (1885 – 1970) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
34. Emil Cioran (1911 – 1995) - philosopher, writer, and essayist
35. Avram Iancu (1824 – 1872) - leader of the 1848 revolution in Transylvania
36. Burebista (? – 44 BC) - King of Dacia
37. Marie of Romania (1875 – 1938) - Queen of Romania
38. Petre Țuțea (1902 – 1991) - philosopher, victim of the communist regime
39. Corneliu Coposu (1914 – 1995) - politician, victim of the communist regime
40. Aurel Vlaicu (1882 – 1913) - inventor, aviation pioneer
41. Iosif Trifa (1888 – 1938) - Eastern Orthodox priest, founder of the "Oastea Domnului" ("Lord's Army") Christian organisation
42. Nichita Stănescu (1933 – 1983) - poet and essayist
43. Ion Creangă (1837 – 1889) - writer
44. Mădalina Manole (1967 – 2010) - pop singer
45. Corneliu Vadim Tudor (1949 – 2015) - strongly nationalistic politician, writer and journalist; founder and leader of the Greater Romania party
46. Traian Vuia (1872 – 1950) - inventor, aviation pioneer
47. Lucian Blaga (1895 – 1961) - poet, playwright, and philosopher
48. George Emil Palade (1912 – 2008) - cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1974)
49. Ana Aslan (1897 – 1988) - biologist, physician and inventor, the author of essential research in gerontology
50. Adrian Mutu (1979 – ) - football player
51. Florin Piersic (1936 – ) - theater and film actor
52. Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817 – 1891) - politician and historian, first Prime Minister of the United Principalities of Romania
53. Iancsi Korossy (1926 – 2013) - jazz pianist
54. Dimitrie Cantemir (1673 – 1723) - Prince of Moldavia and prolific man of letters
55. Ilie Năstase (1946 – ) - tennis player
56. Gheorghe Zamfir (1941 – ) - musician, pan flute player
57. Gică Petrescu (1915 – 2006) - musician, folk and pop music composer and singer
58. Elisabeta Rizea (1912 – 2003) - anti-communist partisan
59. Bulă (fictional) - a stock character of Romanian jokes
60. Amza Pellea (1931 – 1983) - theater and film actor
61. Matei Corvin (1443 (?) – 1490) - King of Hungary
62. Mircea cel Bătrân (1355 – 1418) - Prince of Wallachia
63. Titu Maiorescu (1840 – 1917) - literary critic and politician
64. Toma Caragiu (1925 – 1977) - theater and film actor
65. Mihai Trăistariu (1979 – ) - pop singer
66. Andreea Marin (1974 – ) - TV show host
67. Emil Racoviță (1868 – 1947) - biologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica
68. Victor Babeș (1854 – 1926) - biologist and early bacteriologist, one of the founders of microbiology
69. Nicolae Bălcescu (1819 – 1852) - leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution
70. Horia-Roman Patapievici (1957 – ) - writer and essayist
71. Ion Iliescu (1930 – ) - first President of Romania after the 1989 revolution
72. Marin Preda (1922 – 1980) - novelist
73. Eugen Ionescu (1909 – 1994) - playwright, one of the initiators of the theatre of the absurd
74. Dumitru Stăniloae (1903 – 1993) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian
75. Alexandru Todea (1905 – 2002) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
76. Tudor Gheorghe (1945 – ) - singer and theater actor
77. Ion Țiriac (1939 – ) - tennis player and businessman
78. Ilie Cleopa (1912 – 1998) - Eastern Orthodox archimandrite
79. Arsenie Boca (1910 – 1989) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian, victim of the communist regime
80. Bănel Nicoliță (1985 – ) - football player
81. Dumitru Cornilescu (1891 – 1975) - Eastern Orthodox, then Protestant priest, translated the Bible into Romanian in 1921
82. Grigore Moisil (1906 – 1973) - mathematician and computing pioneer
83. Claudiu Niculescu (1976 – ) - football player
84. Florentin Petre (1976 – ) - football player
85. Marius Moga (1981 – ) - pop music composer and singer
86. Nicolae Steinhardt (1912 – 1989) - writer
87. Laura Stoica (1967 – 2006) - pop and rock singer, composer and actress
88. Cătălin Hâldan (1976 – 2000) - football player
89. Anghel Saligny (1854 – 1925) - engineer
90. Ivan Patzaichin (1949 – ) - flatwater canoer who won seven Olympic medals
91. Maria Tănase (1913 – 1963) - traditional and popular music singer
92. Sergiu Nicolaescu (1930 – 2013) - film director, actor and politician
93. Octavian Paler (1926 – 2007) - essayist
94. The Unknown Soldier - the Romanian soldier in the national Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
95. Ciprian Porumbescu (1853 – 1883) - composer
96. Nicolae Covaci (1947 – ) - founder of the Phoenix rock band
97. Dumitru Prunariu (1952 – ) - first Romanian cosmonaut
98. Iancu de Hunedoara (c. 1387 – 1456) - Voivode of Transylvania, captain-general and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary
99. Constantin Noica (1909 – 1987) - philosopher and essayist
100. Badea Cârțan (1849 – 1911) - a shepherd who fought for the independence of the Romanians of Transylvania (then under Hungarian rule inside Austria-Hungary)

References

External links

• mariromani.ro