All Romanians are vampires

Romanians who should have been famous:

Nicolae Paulescu

invented insulin, but someone else got recognition. Pretty sad story.

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Traian Vuia

Allegedly the first man to take off from the ground on a self-propelled machine heavier than air. In 1906. He also got no recognition for it.

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Mihai Eminescu

Romania’s “national” poet, revolutionized Romanian literature. Outstanding feel for rhythm and sound, outstanding play with the language, deep thoughts – everything you want. Unfortunately for his international fame, Romanian language poetry is bloody difficult to translate, so he is doomed to be truly appreciated only by Romanian speakers. Same goes for Nichita Stanescu, a modern poet who won the Herder prize in the 80′s.  Some attempted translations here for Eminescu and here for Nichita (for some reason, we don’t call him “Stanescu”, but by his first name. It somehow fits.)

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Petrache Poenaru

invented the fountain pen. Well, who cares, these days – although he revolutionized the… world as we know it, you may argue. To be famous he should have invented the X-Box. Or at least a joystick, or something.

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The Hacker from Craiova

Best known for two things: 1) hacking the CIA server and 2) getting caught.
He was 16. Years old.

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Marius Crăciun

Is the FIFA2008 world champion. Not real football, computer football. He’s 18, so maybe he will become famous after all.