Medeea Weinberg (1931–2017) – un cercetător de excepţie
Medeea Weinberg (1931–2017) – an outstanding Researcher

Summary/Abstract: Medeea Regenstreif was born in Bacău on May 24,1931, just the day when the “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History in Bucharest celebrated the 23rd anniversary of its inauguration in the building on no. 1, Kiseleff Street. Between 1941 and 1943, Medeea is in a ghetto with her parents. By a decree signed by Marshal Antonescu, several Jewish families,including her family, are repatriated. So in the autumn of 1943, the Regenstreifs returned to Bucharest to their old home. By the age of 12, Medeea was educated by her parents. She took private exams to be admitted to high school. In 1950, after graduating from high school, she was admitted among the first at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Bucharest. In 1954 he took her Bachelor’s in Zoology, and on September 1 of the same year she was employed at the Antipa Museum, where she worked for over 35 years until retirement. She was introduced to the field of entomology by Professor Mihai Ionescu who would later be her Doctoral thesis advisor. First, she studied lepidoptera (butterflies), then the head of the department, Dr. Victoria Iuga-Raica, decided that the young Medeea should approach the study of the diptera (flies). She earnestly undertook to study the new insect group, to which she would dedicate herself entirely, becoming a world-class specialist. She worked with many personalities in the field and was invited to research diptera collections from major European museums. She loved the Antipa Museum, giving it many years of her life. She initiated, enriched and organized a remarkable collection of diptera. She published more than 150 specialized works in Romania and abroad (France, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Israel etc.) and the Diptera Asilidae beam of the Fauna of Romania series received the “Emil Racoviţă” prize, awarded by the Romanian Academy of Sciences. At the age of 55 she retired, but did not interrupt her research activity, continuing to publish important works, especially abroad. For us, those who have met her, but also for those who will know her from her publications and from the collection that she initiated, enriched and organized for a European-sized museum, Medeea Weinberg remains an outstanding researcher and passionate museologist.

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