Ioan Mire Melik

Ioan Mire Melik, or Melic, was a Wallachian, later Romanian mathematician, educator and political figure, one of the early members of Junimea literary society. Known for his work in private education, and for his tenure at the University of Iași, he was the author of several early introductions to science—dealing with arithmetic and geometry, but also with topography and surveying. He was perceived as a bland figure at Junimea meetings, and had little to do with its literary agenda, but took care of administrative chores and, for a while, of its publishing venture. In his other job as headmaster of Institutele-Unite high school, where he employed poet Mihai Eminescu as a German-language teacher, he was regarded as remarkably stern, and had a publicized showdown with the students.