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{{short description|Romanian mathematician and poet (1895 - 1961)}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ion Barbu
| image              = Ion Barbu.jpg
| birth_name         = Dan Barbilian
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1895|3|18}}
| birth_place        = [[Câmpulung]], [[Kingdom of Romania]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1961|8|11|1895|3|18}}
| death_place        = [[Bucharest]], [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People's Republic]]
| resting_place      = [[Bellu Cemetery]], [[Sector 4 (Bucharest)|Sector 4]], [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|44|24|26.87|N|26|5|49.06|E|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| nationality        = [[Romanians|Romanian]]
| citizenship        = {{plainlist|
* [[Kingdom of Romania]]
* [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People's Republic]]
}}
| education          = {{plainlist|
* [[University of Groningen]]
* [[University of Tübingen]]
* [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]]
}}
| alma mater         = [[University of Bucharest]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]] and [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in [[Mathematics]])
| occupation         = {{plainlist|
* [[poet]]
* [[mathematician]]
}}
| years_active       = 1919–1961
| era                = [[Interwar period]]
| notable_works      = Second game (Joc secund)
| movement           = {{plainlist|
* [[Parnassianism]]
* [[Hermeticism]]
* [[Expressionism]]
}}
| signature          = Ion Barbu signature.svg
| spouse             = Gerda Barbilian
| mother             = Smaranda Șoiculescu
| father             = Constantin Barbilian
| module            = 
   {{infobox scientist | embed=yes
| thesis_title      = Canonical representation of the addition of hyperelliptic functions
| thesis_url        = 
| thesis_year       = 1929
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Gheorghe Țițeica]]
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| fields            = Geometry
| workplaces        = [[University of Bucharest]]
   }}
}}
'''Ion Barbu''' ({{IPA|ro|iˈon ˈbarbu}}, [[pen name]] of '''Dan Barbilian'''; 18 March 1895 &ndash;11 August 1961) was a Romanian mathematician and poet. His name is associated with the [[Mathematics Subject Classification]] number 51C05, which is a major posthumous recognition reserved only to pioneers of investigations in an area of mathematical inquiry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet/msc/msc2020.html?t=51Cxx|publisher=[[American Mathematical Society]]|title=MathSciNet: 51C05 (1980-now) Ring geometry (Hjelmslev, Barbilian, etc.)}}</ref> As a poet, he is known for his volume ''Joc secund'' ("Mirrored Play"),<ref name="ICI">{{cite web|url=http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/cultura/l_barbu.html| title=Ion Barbu (1895&ndash;1961)|publisher=Intitutul Național de Cercetare, Romania|website=www.ici.ro|date=September 8, 1999| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217194821/http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/cultura/l_barbu.html|access-date=February 16, 2024| archive-date=2005-12-17}}</ref> in which he sought to fulfill his vision of a poetry which adhered to the same virtues that he found in mathematics.<ref name="Signata"/>

==Early life==
Born in [[Câmpulung|Câmpulung-Muscel]], [[Argeș County]], he was the son of Constantin Barbilian and Smaranda, born Șoiculescu. He attended elementary school in Câmpulung, [[Dămienești]], and [[Stâlpeni]], and for secondary studies he went to the [[Ion Brătianu National College (Pitești)|Ion Brătianu High School]] in [[Pitești]], the [[Dinicu Golescu National College|Dinicu Golescu High School]] in Câmpulung, and finally the [[Gheorghe Lazăr National College, Bucharest|Gheorghe Lazăr High School]] and the [[Mihai Viteazul National College, Bucharest|Mihai Viteazul High School]] in [[Bucharest]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.argesexpres.ro/index.php/cultura/32394-ion-barbu-dan-barbilian-poet-si-matematician-3|title=Ion Barbu/Dan Barbilian, poet și matematician|first=C.|last=Voiculesu|newspaper=Argeș Expres|date=March 23, 2020|access-date=May 9, 2021}}</ref> During that time, he discovered that he had a talent for mathematics, and started publishing in ''{{ill|Gazeta Matematică|ro}}''; it was also then that he discovered his passion for poetry.

[[File:Ion Barbu at his Spiru Haret High School teacher's desk, Oct 1927.png|thumb|Barbu at his Spiru Haret High School teacher's desk, October 1927]]
He was a student at the [[University of Bucharest]] when World War I caused his studies to be interrupted by military service. After being sent to [[Botoșani]] in December 1916, he attended the Reserve Officers' School in [[Bârlad]] and was promoted to the rank of corporal in April 1917. Serving under the command of major [[Barbu Alinescu]], he advanced to platoon leader by April 1918, and went into reserve as a sub-lieutenant in 1919.<ref name="Bostan">{{cite news|url=https://24-ore.ro/2016/11/29/sublocotenentul-poet-dan-barbilian-vs-tribunalul-militar/|title=Sublocotenentul-poet Dan Barbilian Vs. Tribunalul Militar|lang=ro| first=Ionel|last=Bostan|work=24-ore|access-date=February 17, 2024}}</ref> Barbilian completed his undergraduate degree in 1921. The next year he won a doctoral grant to go to the [[University of Göttingen]], where he studied [[number theory]] with [[Edmund Landau]] for two years.<ref name="Kempthorne">{{Cite thesis |title=Relations between Modern Mathematics and Poetry: Czesław Miłosz; Zbigniew Herbert; Ion Barbu/Dan Barbilian |url=https://openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz/articles/thesis/Relations_between_Modern_Mathematics_and_Poetry_Czes_aw_Mi_osz_Zbigniew_Herbert_Ion_Barbu_Dan_Barbilian/17009483/1 |publisher=Open Access Te Herenga Waka &ndash; [[Victoria University of Wellington]] |date=2015-01-01 |doi=10.26686/wgtn.17009483.v1 |first=Loveday Jane Anastasia |last=Kempthorne}}</ref>{{rp|169}} However, he attended few classes, suffered from [[cocaine]] and [[Ether addiction|ether]] addiction, and eventually abandoned his studies at Göttingen.<ref name="Signata"/><ref name="Timpul"/><ref name="crypto"/> Returning to Bucharest, chronically ill as a result of drug intoxication, he was hospitalized for rehabilitation from August 1924 to January 1925.<ref name="Timpul"/> In 1925 he began to teach mathematics at {{ill|Spiru Haret National College|lt=Spiru Haret High School|ro|Colegiul Național „Spiru Haret” din București}}, along with his German wife, Gerda, who taught German literature.<ref name="Kempthorne"/>{{rp|174}} He then studied with [[Gheorghe Țițeica]], completing in 1929 his Ph.D. thesis, ''Reprezentarea canonică a adunării funcțiilor ipereliptice'' (Canonical representation of the addition of hyperelliptic functions).<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=267122|name=Dan Barbilian}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Boskoff | first1 = Wladimir G. | last2 = Suceavă | first2 = Bogdan | author2-link= Bogdan Suceavă |year = 2007 | title = Barbilian spaces: the history of a geometric idea | journal = [[Historia Mathematica]] | volume = 34 | issue = 2| pages = 221–224 | doi = 10.1016/j.hm.2006.06.001 | doi-access =  |mr=2320101}}</ref><ref name="Signata">{{Cite journal |last1=Kempthorne |first1=Loveday |last2=Donelan |first2=Peter |date=2016-12-31 |title=Barbilian-Barbu—A Case Study in Mathematico-poetic Translation |url=http://journals.openedition.org/signata/1238 |journal=Signata |issue=7 |pages=337–360 |doi=10.4000/signata.1238 }}</ref> The thesis defense committee was presided by [[David Emmanuel (mathematician)|David Emmanuel]] and included Țițeica and [[Dimitrie Pompeiu]].<ref name="Timpul"/> In the spring of 1929 he bought a house at 8, Carol Davila Street, Bucharest,<ref name="Timpul">{{citation|url=https://revistatimpul.ro/joc-secund-si-umbra-tutelara-a-lui-felix-klein/|title=Joc secund. Și umbra tutelară a lui Felix Klein|lang=ro|first=Bogdan|last=Suceavă|author-link=Bogdan Suceavă|magazine=[[Timpul]]|date=November 1, 2022|access-date=February 17, 2024}}</ref> where he would live for the rest of his life.<ref name="ICI"/> For a while, he taught at the [[Cantemir Vodă National College|Cantemir Vodă High School]].<ref name="Istoric">{{cite web|url=https://www.cncv.ro/istoric/|title=Istoric|lang=ro|publisher=[[Cantemir Vodă National College]]|access-date=August 23, 2024}}</ref> In the summer of 1937, he served as president of the commission administering the [[Romanian Baccalaureate|Baccalaureate]] at the [[Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Sibiu)|Gheorghe Lazăr High School]] in [[Sibiu]], after which he issued a scathing report to the [[Ministry of Education (Romania)|Ministry of Education]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://romanialiterara.com/2019/08/dan-barbilian-si-bacalaureatul-din-1937/|title=Dan Barbilian și bacalaureatul din 1937|lang=ro|magazine=[[România Literară]]|volume=34|year=2019|access-date=February 17, 2024}}</ref>

==Achievements in mathematics==
===Apollonian metric===
In 1935, Barbilian published his article<ref>{{cite journal|first=Dan|last=Barbilian|title=Einordnung von Lobayschewskys Massenbestimmung in einer gewissen algemeinen Metrik der Jordansche Bereiche|lang=de|journal=Časopis Pro Pěstování Matematiky a Fysiky| year=1935|volume=64|pages=182&ndash;183|doi=10.21136/CPMF.1935.123599 |jfm=61.0601.02|doi-access=free}}</ref> describing metrization of a region ''K'', the interior of a [[simple closed curve]] ''J''. Let ''xy'' denote the [[Euclidean distance]] from ''x'' to ''y''. Barbilian's function for the distance from ''a'' to ''b'' in ''K'' is
:<math>d(a,b) = \log \underset{p \in J}{\max} (pa/pb) + \log \underset{q \in J}{\max} (qb/qa) .</math>
As Barbilian noted, this construction generates various geometries that are generalizations of the [[Beltrami–Klein model|Klein projective model]]; he highlighted four special cases, including the [[Poincaré disk model]] in [[hyperbolic geometry]].<ref name="Kempthorne"/>{{rp|175}} At the [[University of Missouri]] in 1938 [[Leonard Blumenthal]] wrote ''Distance Geometry. A Study of the Development of Abstract Metrics'',<ref>University of Missouri Studies #13</ref> where he used the term "Barbilian spaces" for [[metric space]]s based on Barbilian's function to obtain their [[metric (mathematics)|metric]]. And in 1954 the [[The American Mathematical Monthly|American Mathematical Monthly]] published an article by [[Paul Kelly (mathematician)|Paul J. Kelly]] on Barbilian's method of metrizing a region bounded by a curve.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link=Paul Kelly (mathematician)|first=Paul J. |last=Kelly|year=1954|title=Barbilian geometry and the Poincaré model|journal=[[The American Mathematical Monthly]] |volume=61|issue=5 |pages=311–19 |doi=10.2307/2307467|jstor=2307467 |mr=0061397}}</ref> Barbilian claimed he did not have access to Kelly's publication, but he did read Blumenthal's review of it in [[Mathematical Reviews]] and he understood Kelly's construction. This motivated him to write in final form a series of four papers, which appeared after 1958, where the metric geometry of the spaces that today bears his name is investigated thoroughly.

He answered in 1959 with an article<ref>{{cite journal|first=Dan |last=Barbilian|title=Asupra unui principiu de metrizare|journal=Academia Republicii Populare Romîne. Studii și Cercetări Matematice|volume=10|year=1959|pages=69–116| mr=0107848}}</ref> which described "a very general procedure of metrization through which the positive functions of two points, on certain sets, can be refined to a distance." Besides Blumenthal and Kelly, articles on "Barbilian spaces" have appeared in the 1990s from Patricia Souza, while  Wladimir G. Boskoff, Marian G. Ciucă and [[Bogdan Suceavă]] wrote in the 2000s about "Barbilian's metrization procedure".<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10587-008-0068-x |last1=Boskoff|first1=Wladimir G.|last2= Suceavă|first2= Bogdan D.|author2-link=Bogdan Suceavă|title= Barbilian's metrization procedure in the plane yields either Riemannian or Lagrange generalized metrics|journal= Czechoslovak Mathematical Journal |volume=58|pages= 1059–1068 |year=2008|issue=4|doi=10.1007/s10587-008-0068-x|hdl=10338.dmlcz/140439|hdl-access=free|mr=2471165|s2cid=54742376}}</ref>  Barbilian indicated in his paper ''Asupra unui principiu de metrizare'' that he preferred the term "[[Apollonius of Perga|Apollonian]] metric space", and articles from [[Alan Frank Beardon|Alan F. Beardon]], [[Frederick Gehring]] and [[Kari Hag]], Peter A. Häströ, Zair Ibragimov and others use that term. According to Suceavă,<ref>{{citation|first=Bogdan|last= Suceavă|title= Distances generated by Barbilian's metrization procedure by oscillation of sublogarithmic functions|journal= Houston Journal of Mathematics|volume=37| year=2011|pages= 147–159|citeseerx=10.1.1.433.7757|mr=2786550}}</ref> "Barbilian's metrization procedure is important for at least three reasons: (1) It yields a natural generalization of Poincaré and Beltrami–Klein's hyperbolic geometries; (2) It has been studied in the context of the study of Apollonian metric; (3) Provides a large class of examples of Lagrange generalized metrics irreducible to Riemann, Finsler, or Lagrange metrics."

===Ring geometry===
Barbilian made a contribution to the [[Foundations of mathematics#Projective geometry|foundations of geometry]] with his articles in 1940 and 1941 in [[Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung]] on [[projective plane]]s with coordinates from a [[ring (mathematics)|ring]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Dan|last= Barbilian|year=1940| title=Zur Axiomatik der projecktiven ebenen Ringgeometrien. I|journal=[[Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung]]|volume= 50|pages=179–229|mr=0003710}} {{cite journal|year=1941| title=Zur Axiomatik der projecktiven ebenen Ringgeometrien. II|journal=Ibid|volume= 51|pages=34–76|mr=0005628}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kvirikashvili | first1 = T.G. | year = 2008 | title = Projective geometries over rings and modular lattices | journal = Journal of Mathematical Sciences | volume = 153 | issue = 4 | pages = 495–505 | doi = 10.1007/s10958-008-9133-0 |mr=2731947| s2cid = 120567853 }}</ref> According to Boskoff and Suceavă, this work "inspired research in ring geometries, nowadays associated with his, Hjelmslev's and [[Wilhelm Klingenberg|Klingenberg]]'s names."
A more critical stance was taken in 1995 by Ferdinand D. Velkamp: 
:A systematic study of projective planes over large classes of associative rings was initiated by D. Barbilian. His very general approach in [1940 and 41] remained rather unsatisfactory, however, his axioms were partly of a geometric nature, partly algebraic as pertaining to the ring of coordinates, and there were a number of difficulties which Barbilian could not overcome.<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1016/B978-044488355-1/50021-9 | title=Geometry over Rings | year=1995 | journal=Handbook of Incidence Geometry | pages=1033–1084 | last1 = Veldkamp | first1 = Ferdinand D. | mr = 2320101|isbn=978-0-444-88355-1 }}</ref> 
Nevertheless, in 1989 John R. Faulkner wrote an article "Barbilian Planes"<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Faulkner | first1 = John R. | year = 1989 | title = Barbilian Planes | journal = [[Geometriae Dedicata]] | volume = 30 | issue = 2| pages = 125–81 |mr=1000255 | doi=10.1007/bf00181549| s2cid = 189890461 }}</ref> that clarified terminology and advanced the study. In his introduction, he wrote:
:A classical result from projective geometry is that a [[Girard Desargues|Desarguesian]] projective plane is coordinatized by an associative [[division ring]]. A Barbilian plane is a geometric structure which extends the notion of a projective plane and thereby allows a coordinate ring which is not necessarily a division ring. There are advantages ...
The terms ''affine Barbilian plane'' and ''Barbilian domain'' were introduced by Werner Leissner in 1975, in two papers ("Affine Barbilian planes I and II").<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leißner |first=Werner|year=1975 |title=Affine Barbilian-Ebenen I |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01919759 |journal=[[Journal of Geometry]] |language=de |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=31–57 |doi=10.1007/BF01919759 |mr=0367791}} {{Cite journal |year=1975 |title=Affine Barbilian-Ebenen II |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01920044 |journal=[[Journal of Geometry]] |language=de |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=105–129 |doi=10.1007/BF01920044 |mr=0380618 |last1=Leißner |first1=W. |s2cid=189873143 }}</ref> Referring to these papers, Dirk Keppens says that Leissner introduced this terminology "as a tribute to Barbilian, who was one of the founders of (projective) ring geometry."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Keppens |first=Dirk |year=2017 |title=Affine planes over finite rings, a summary |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00010-017-0497-4 |journal=[[Aequationes Mathematicae|Aequationes mathematicae]] |language=en |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=979–993 |doi=10.1007/s00010-017-0497-4 |mr=3697182|s2cid=253595560 }}</ref>

===Textbooks===
* 1956: {{lang|ro|"Teoria aritmetică a idealelor (în inele necomutative)", ''Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne'' |italic=unset}}, Bucharest. {{MR|0085247}}
* 1960: {{lang|ro|"Grupuri cu operatori: Teoremele de descompunere ale algebrei", ''Editura Academiei Republicii Popular Romîne'' |italic=unset}}, Bucharest. {{MR|0125888}}

==Academic career==
In 1930, Barbilian returned to full-time mathematics and joined the academic staff at the [[University of Bucharest]].<ref name="Kempthorne"/>{{rp|175}} In 1942, he was named professor, with some help from fellow mathematician [[Grigore Moisil]].<ref>{{MacTutor|id=Moisil|title=Grigore C. Moisil}}</ref>

As a mathematician, Barbilian authored 80 research papers and studies. His last paper, written in collaboration with Nicolae Radu, appeared posthumously, in 1962,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Barbilian|first1=Dan|last2= Radu|first2=Nicolae|
title=Résolution abstractée par des radicaux|journal=
Academia Republicii Populare Romîne. Studii și Cercetări Matematice
|volume=13|year=1962|pages=377–418|mr=0160776}}</ref> and is the last in the cycle of four works where he investigates the Apollonian metric.

==Poetry==
Barbu made his literary debut in 1918 in [[Alexandru Macedonski]]'s magazine ''{{ill|Literatorul|ro}}'', and then started contributing to ''[[Sburătorul]]'', where [[Eugen Lovinescu]] saw him as a "new poet".<ref name="ICI"/> His first volume of poetry, ''După melci'' ("After Snails"), was published in 1921. This was followed by his major work, ''Joc secund'', published in 1930, to critical acclaim. The volume contains some 35 of Barbu’s total published output of around 100 poems.<ref name="Signata"/>

His poem ''Ut algebra poesis'' (As Algebra, So Poetry), written in to his fellow poet [[Nina Cassian]] (with whom he had fallen in love<ref name=EVZ>{{cite news|url=http://www.evz.ro/a-murit-nina-cassian-povestea-scriitoarei-de-care-s-a-indragostit-ion-barbu.html|title=A murit Nina Cassian. Povestea scriitoarei de care s-a indrăgostit Ion Barbu|last=Ciuta|first=Larisa|newspaper=[[Evenimentul Zilei]]|date= April 16, 2014|access-date=February 17, 2024}}</ref>), alludes to his regret at having abandoned his studies at Göttingen and an appreciation of two great mathematicians: [[Emmy Noether]], who he had met there, and [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]], who left a lasting legacy at Göttingen.<ref name="Signata"/><ref name="Glaz-Growney"/>

{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ro|Ut algebra poesis [Ninei Cassian]
La anii-mi încă tineri, în târgul Göttingen,
Cum Gauss, altădată, sub curba lui alee
— Boltirea geometriei astrale să încheie —
Încovoiam poemul spre ultimul catren.
[..]
Și algebrista Emmy, sordida și divina,
Al cărei steag și preot abia să fiu,
Se mută-m nefireasca — nespus de albă ! — Nina.
}}
|
As Algebra, So Poetry [For Nina Cassian]
In my young days I strolled the lanes of Göttingen -
Where Gauss, beneath arched canopies of leaves,
Sealed once for all the vaults of higher geometries -
And curved a poem towards its last quatrain.
[..]
And algebraist Emmy, both common and divine,
Whose priest and standard-bearer I would dare emerge,
Surpasses Nina—transcendental and indescribably fair!
}}<small>—''translation by Sarah Glaz and JoAnne Growney</small><ref name="Glaz-Growney">{{Cite journal |last1=Barbu |first1=Ion |last2=Glaz |first2=Sarah |last3=Growney |first3=JoAnne |date=2006-11-01 |title=Ut Algebra Poesis (As Algebra, So Poetry) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27642060 |journal=[[The American Mathematical Monthly]] |volume=113 |issue=9 |pages=792&ndash;793 |doi=10.2307/27642060|jstor=27642060 }}</ref>

According to Loveday Kempthorne and Peter Donelan, Barbu "saw mathematics and poetry as equally capable of holding the answer to understanding and reaching a transcendental ideal."<ref name="Signata"/> He is known as "one of the greatest Romanian poets of the twentieth century and perhaps the greatest of all" according to Romanian literary critic {{ill|Alexandru Ciorănescu|ro}}.<ref>Alexandru Ciorănescu (1981) ''Ion Barbu'', [[Gale (publisher)|Twayne Publishers]], Boston, {{ISBN|0-8057-6432-1}}</ref>

==Political creed==
Barbu was mostly apolitical, with one exception: around 1940 he became a sympathizer of the fascist movement [[The Iron Guard]] (hoping to be promoted to full professor if they came to power), dedicating a poem to one of its leaders, [[Corneliu Zelea Codreanu]].<ref name="Polirom">{{cite book|last=Suceavă|first=Bogdan|author-link=Bogdan Suceavă|title= Adâncul acestei calme creste: Programul de la Erlangen și poetica Jocului secund|publisher=[[Polirom]]|location=Iași|year=2022|isbn=978-973-46-9195-1|zbl=1505.00043}}</ref> In 1940, he also wrote a poem praising [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]].<ref name="Zamfir">{{citation|url=http://www.romaniaculturala.ro/articol.php?cod=100|title=Căderea poetului|first=Mihai|last=Zamfir|issue=16| magazine=[[România Literară]]|language=ro|date=April 26, 2007|access-date=February 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429185030/http://www.romaniaculturala.ro/articol.php?cod=100|archive-date=April 29, 2014}}</ref><ref name="crypto">{{cite web|url=http://adevarul.ro/cultura/istorie/riga-crypto-drogurile-legionarii-1_50ba02487c42d5a663af8f9a/index.html|title=Riga Crypto, drogurile și legionarii|date=18 June 2011 |newspaper=[[Adevărul]]|language=ro|access-date=August 30, 2013}}</ref> Suceavă attributes these moves to be opportunistic devices in a professional advancement plan and ignores Barbu’s own explanation, that he was attempting to deflect attention from the fact that he was hiding in his house his wife’s brother, a German citizen who eluded conscription by staying hidden in Romania.<ref name="Polirom"/>

After the Communists came to power in the wake of World War II, his friend [[Alexandru Rosetti]] sought to convince Barbu to write poems praising the new regime. Barbu reluctantly wrote in early 1948 one poem that can be interpreted as pro-communist, namely "Bălcescu living", but he never relapsed and kept his dignified demeanor until the end.<ref name="Zamfir"/>

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Bellu 130222 67.jpg|thumb|Grave in [[Bellu Cemetery]]]]
[[File:Casa pe Str. Carol Davila nr. 8 (Casa Ion Barbu) Bucuresti sect. 5 (detaliu 2).JPG|thumb|Commemorative plaque affixed on Barbu's house by the Bucharest City Hall in 1991]]
Ion Barbu died of [[liver failure]] in Bucharest in 1961. He is buried in the city's [[Bellu Cemetery]].

The [[Dan Barbilian Theoretical High School]] in [[Câmpulung]], the [[Ion Barbu Theoretical High School]] in [[Pitești]], the [[Ion Barbu Technological High School]] in [[Giurgiu]], and a secondary school in [[Galați]] are all named after him. There are Ion Barbu streets in [[Alba Iulia]], [[Hărman]], [[Murfatlar]], [[Sânmartin, Bihor|Sânmartin]], [[Șelimbăr]], [[Snagov|Tâncăbești]], [[Timișoara]], [[Zalău]], and [[1 Decembrie]], and Dan Barbilian streets in Câmpulung and Giurgiu.

== Presence in English language anthologies ==
* ''Born in Utopia - An anthology of Modern and Contemporary Romanian Poetry -'' Carmen Firan and Paul Doru Mugur (editors) with Edward Foster - Talisman House Publishers - 2006 - {{ISBN|1-58498-050-8}}
* ''Testament - Anthology of Romanian Verse - American Edition -'' monolingual English language edition - [[Daniel Ioniță (poet)|Daniel Ioniță]] (editor and principal translator) with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews - Australian-Romanian Academy for Culture - 2017 - {{ISBN|978-0-9953502-0-5}}
* ''Testament – 400 Years of Romanian Poetry – 400 de ani de poezie românească'' – bilingual edition – [[Daniel Ioniță (poet)|Daniel Ioniță]] (editor and principal translator) with [[Daniel Reynaud]], Adriana Paul & Eva Foster – Editura Minerva, 2019 – {{ISBN|978-973-21-1070-6}}
* ''Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present'' – bilingual edition English/Romanian – [[Daniel Ioniță (poet)|Daniel Ioniță]] (editor and principal translator) with [[Daniel Reynaud]], Adriana Paul and Eva Foster – Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing – 2020 – {{ISBN|978-0-9953502-8-1}} ; {{OCLC|1288167046}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Romanian modernist literature in World War II}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbu, Ion}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Câmpulung]]
[[Category:Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Bucharest) alumni]]
[[Category:Mihai Viteazul National College (Bucharest) alumni]]
[[Category:Romanian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:University of Bucharest alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Bucharest]]
[[Category:Romanian avant-garde]]
[[Category:Romanian male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Romanian male writers]]
[[Category:Romanian schoolteachers]]
[[Category:Romanian textbook writers]]
[[Category:Geometers]]
[[Category:Pseudonymous mathematicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Romanian Academy elected posthumously]]
[[Category:Members of the Romanian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Deaths from liver failure]]
[[Category:Burials at Bellu Cemetery]]