Victor Anestin was a Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n journalist, science popularizer, astronomer and science fiction writer.

Biography

Born in Bacău

Bacau

Bacău is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. It covers a land surface of 43 km², and, as of January 1, 2009, has an estimated population of 177,087. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistriţa River...

, Victor Anestin was the son of actor Ion Anestin. He graduated high school in Craiova

Craiova

Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...

 and went on to work for some measly wages as proof reader for various Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

 newspapers.

As an astronomer, he made a few original obesrvations over planet Venus

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

 and published several articles in foreign journals such as Nature, Monthly Register and L'Astronomie.

Between 1907 and 1912, he published the first Romanian astronomical journal, Orion and in 1908, he was the founder of the Societatea astronomică română "Camille Flammarion". In 1912, Anestin became the director of the Ziarul Călătoriilor, which he renamed in Ziarul ştiinţelor populare ("Journal of Popular Sciences") and its circulation rose to 15,000. Together with C. I. Istrati, he founded Universitatea Populară din Bucureşti in 1912 and at the end of the year 1913, he founded the Prietenii Ṣtiinţei association.

Legacy

Anestin wrote three science fiction novels and a large number of articles and over a hundred booklets about science.

In his novel A Celestial Tragedy (published in February 1914), Anestin has one of the earliest descriptions of the possibility of using the atomic power for war purposes, being published in the same year as H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

' The World Set Free

The World Set Free

The World Set Free is a novel published in 1914 by H. G. Wells. The book is considered to foretell nuclear weapons. It had appeared first in serialized form with a different ending as A Prophetic Trilogy, consisting of three books: A Trap to Catch the Sun, The Last War in the World and The World...

.
The astronomical observatory of Bacău bears his name.

Science fiction novels

• În anul 4000 sau O călătorie la Venus (In the year 4000, or A trip to Venus, 1899, not to be confused with John Munro's A Trip to Venus, 1897)
• O tragedie cerească, Poveste astronomică (A Celestial Tragedy, An Astronomical Story, 1914)
• Puterea ştiinţei, sau Cum a fost omorât Răsboiul European, Poveste fantastică (The Power of Science, or How was the European War Killed, Fantasy Story, 1916)