Francisc Iosif Rainer (December 28, 1874 – August 4, 1944) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian pathologist, physiologist and anthropologist. From an immigrant family, he earned early recognition for his experimental work in anatomy, and helped reform Romanian medical science. He spent much of his youth training himself in anatomical pathology and the various areas of natural science, gaining direct experience as a microbiologist, surgeon, and military physician. With teaching positions at the University of Iași and the University of Bucharest, where he established specialized sections, Rainer became a noted promoter of science and an innovator in his field. He notably favored and introduced the anatomical study of "functional structures", and was in particular preoccupied with issues pertaining to ontogenesis and kinesiology. An intellectual influence on several generations of doctors, his wife was Marta Trancu-Rainer, Romania's first female surgeon.
In addition to his experimental approach, Rainer is remembered as a talented pedagogue and public speaker, who took public stances in defense of his social and cultural ideals. Vilified by the far-right for his left-wing stances, he blended progressivism with genetic determinism, and, although an adept of eugenics, condemned scientific racism. He was notably involved with Dimitrie Gusti's project of rural sociology, contributing an anthropological record of several isolated villages on the Carpathian slopes. During his lifetime, Rainer also set up a large collection of craniums and skeletons, which became the centerpiece of his Bucharest anthropology department.
Biography
Early life Francisc Rainer was a native of Rohozna town, near Czernowitz, in Austrian-ruled Bukovina. His parents were Lutheran, but baptized their son Roman Catholic.Zamfirescu, p.155 His father, Gustav Adolf Ignatz Rainer, emigrated to the Romanian Old Kingdom as an employee of the Strousberg Company that built the Bucharest-Giurgiu railway, the country's first. Remaining there, he obtained a post in the administration of the national railroad company.Riga & Călin, pp.21–22; Zamfirescu, p.155 His mother Maria (or Ana) came from a clerical family, and was a housewife.Riga & Călin, p.22 The boy received his primary education at home from his parents, later attending Saint Sava High School in Bucharest. Among the teachers who were particularly helpful was Sabba Ștefănescu in natural sciences.Riga & Călin, pp.23–24; Zamfirescu, p.155 Rainer read extensively, teaching himself Latin and Ancient Greek, and becoming passionate about the literary works of Goethe and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. He slowly discarded the latter's influence when he discovered Heraclitus, Ernst Haeckel, and classical materialistic thought.Riga & Călin, pp.16–18, 22–26, 40, 121 Such works diverted him from his original goal of becoming a Catholic missionary.
In 1892, he enrolled in the medical faculty of the University of Bucharest. While still a student, Rainer was given important tasks by a professor in his histological laboratory. In 1896, he was named a junior teaching assistant in the medical clinic at ; he remained there for nearly two decades.Majuru, pp.281–282; Riga & Călin, pp.24, 28–32, 177; Zamfirescu, p.155 During this time, troubled by "the great issues of the Cosmos", he imposed on himself a rigorous program of study and exercise (including cycling, mountaineering, and fencing).Majuru, p.282 Although struggling to make ends meet, Rainer deepened his anatomical research, closely studying human morphology, and experimented with examination techniques during autopsies, founding a Romanian Anatomical Society for the purpose of sharing results.Riga & Călin, pp.29–32, 38–39, 137 He also attended Anghel Saligny's lectures in chemistry at the School of Bridges, worked as a chemist in Constantin Istrati's lab, then as a pathologist at the Veterinary School.Riga & Călin, pp.33, 35 He moved between Colțea, , and the school of assistant surgeons, taking part in the campaign against tuberculosis.Riga & Călin, pp.36, 177 In the summers of 1900 and 1901, he took part in an anti-cholera campaign in the Danube Delta, which also allowed him to study the native flora and fauna.Hînganu, p.158; Riga & Călin, p.35
He completed his doctorate in 1903, the topic being a particular form of cirrhosis. Having performed numerous autopsies at the hospital, he made an original discovery himself; at the end of the thesis committee's debate, two of its members, Dr. Stoicescu from Colțea and Victor Babeș, extended their collegial greetings to Rainer. Aside from this pair, his professors included , , , Gheorghe Marinescu, Ioan Cantacuzino, and Mina Minovici.Hînganu, p.157; Riga & Călin, pp.24, 26–28, 35, 38–39 Also in 1903, Rainer, recently naturalized Romanian, married Marta Trancu, an Armenian Romanian doctor who had worked with him at Colțea.Anaïs Nersesian, "O personalitate a medicinei românești. Doctor Marta Trancu Rainer (1)", in Ararat, n.2/2006, p.4 They had corresponded intensely on scientific and cultural subjects, before becoming romantically involved.Riga & Călin, pp.32–34 After completing her studies, Marta became Romania's first female surgeon.Nicolae Iorga, Corespondență, vol.3, p.143. Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1991, ; Riga & Călin, pp.31–34, 35–36 Their only child, daughter Sofia, was born on in May 1904.Riga & Călin, pp.35–36
During that period, Rainer made two visits to Germany. The first, in 1906, involved work at Berlin's Frederick William University in the laboratories of Fedor Krause and Oscar Hertwig, as well as a study of embryology and comparative anatomy. His animal experiments there were primarily focused on the ossification process. At the anatomical institute led by Heinrich Wilhelm Waldeyer, he analyzed the brains of individuals belonging to different races.Riga & Călin, pp.37–38, 107, 109; Hînganu, p.158 The second visit, in 1911, involved a stop at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, at the anatomy institute of the University of Jena and at Leipzig. Near the trip's conclusion, while in Weimar, he visited Goethe's House.Hînganu, p.158; Riga & Călin, pp.39–40
Iași career and World War I Upon his return in 1912, Rainer became assistant professor at Bucharest. The following year, with referrals from Constantin Ion Parhon,Riga & Călin, p.46 he became chairman of the anatomy department at the University of Iași medical faculty. Soon after his appointment, with the outbreak of the Second Balkan War, he was mobilized in the Romanian Land Forces medical service. He barely escaped with his life when his automobile fell off the pontoon bridge at Nikopol.Riga & Călin, p.47 Upon his return, he busied himself with organizing his Iași department, supplying the microscopes, microtomes, thermostats, magazine collections and a projector for the faculty.Hînganu, p.158; Riga & Călin, p.47 Meanwhile, during this period, he was involved in scientific publication, sitting on the editorial board of Spitalul, writing for Romania Medicală and, in 1911, helping found the Paris-based Annales de Biologie.Hînganu, p.158; Riga & Călin, p.39
According to Marta Rainer's own account, her husband's move to Iași at age forty marked the end of a "prolonged adolescence", settling Rainer on the path to professional success.Majuru, p.281 As Rainer himself noted, teaching was a major responsibility: "I have always held the belief that there is no feeling so great, no thought so vast and deep, that they may not reach out to young minds and hearts."Majuru, p.281; Riga & Călin, p.93 He set for himself the goal of answering to some of "the great issues of mankind", with "a prolonged action to strengthen my spirit."Riga & Călin, pp.47–48 In his university lectures, Rainer taught that the purpose of medical science was human progress, "that we may always reach for something that is set higher".Vitner, p.104 He also held that "each of us owes more to society than society owes us."Majuru, p.288; Riga & Călin, pp.90–91
While in Iași, Rainer joined the left-wing literary circle formed around Viața Românească magazine, for which he contributed notes on medical science.Riga & Călin, pp.62–63 He befriended the group's doyen, Garabet Ibrăileanu, whom he treated for his lung problems. Rainer persuaded Ibrăileanu, who was Marta's cousin,Riga & Călin, pp.60–61 to hold courses in Romanian language and literature two evenings a week for medical students. His intention was to develop cultured doctors, and the students heard lectures by Mihail Sadoveanu, George Topîrceanu and Titu Maiorescu.Hînganu, p.158; Riga & Călin, pp.61–62 He also took them for nature excursions so they could observe biological phenomena outside the laboratory.Hînganu, p.158 Rainer himself traveled extensively after 1914: among his earliest trips was a working visit to Odón de Buen's oceanographic institute in Palma de Mallorca.Hînganu, p.158; Riga & Călin, p.64
In 1916, following Romania's entry into World War I, Rainer returned to Bucharest and rejoined Marta, being called up for medical service as a colonel.Riga & Călin, p.67 During the 1916 counteroffensive, the Rainers set up surgery wards in the hospitals that had become full to overflowing with wounded from the Battle of Turtucaia and the zeppelin attack on Bucharest.Hînganu, pp.158–159; Riga & Călin, pp.65–67 Later, during Bucharest's occupation by the Central Powers, Francisc Rainer established temporary hospitals in schools. He continued teaching under the German administration, so that his students would not miss a year, but was also obliged to teach separate courses for German students. He managed to prevent the occupying authorities from requisitioning the faculty's possessions.Hînganu, pp.158–159; Riga & Călin, pp.68–70 Viewed as political suspects, the Rainers were singled out for internment in Bulgaria, but spared by Minovici's intervention on his behalf.Riga & Călin, pp.69, 72 Marta Rainer, who managed war hospitals, organized teams of surgeons to help deal with the humanitarian crisis, and operated non-stop during the extremely cold winter of 1917–1918.Anaïs Nersesian, "O personalitate a medicinei românești. Doctor Marta Trancu Rainer (3)", in Ararat, n.4/2006, p.6
Following Romania's withdrawal from the war, Rainer resumed his contacts with Romanian physicians stranded on unoccupied territory. His wartime work in experimental surgery attracted young men and women, including some of his former students at Iași. They included Grigore T. Popa, who was selected for Rainer's permanent team during 1918.Hînganu, p.159; Popa, p.230; Riga & Călin, pp.69–70 Other early members were Florica Cernătescu (Popa's fiancée) and Ilie Th. Riga.Riga & Călin, pp.69–70, 180 By late 1918, Rainer was conceiving of an education reform, aiming to compress theoretical aspects and "routine" work while providing students with as much laboratory experience as possible. His ideas were received with skepticism by the physiologist Ioan Athanasiu, who stood for the classical approach.Riga & Călin, pp.111–113
For a while in 1919, Rainer made a return to teaching in Iași, where he also resumed his activity in the fight against tuberculosis.Riga & Călin, pp.72–75 After the Armistice of November signaled a worldwide return to peace, Rainer had to fend off allegations and angry students demonstrations, with allegations that he had been a turncoat and a collaborator of the Germans. During 1919, a commission of inquiry cleared his name, noting that he had displayed "absolute loyalty" to the legitimate Romanian government.Riga & Călin, pp.70–71 He himself vouched for his colleague Ecaterina Arbore, arrested for her revolutionary socialist militancy.Riga & Călin, p.73 After the general strike of 1920 was broken up by the authorities, Rainer was part of the investigative commission which determined that the labor organizer Herșcu Aroneanu had been beaten to death.Riga & Călin, pp.74–75