Born in 1944, the Romanian neurobiologist Luisa Flonta discovered the insulin cell receptors during her Humboldt Research Fellowship at the Munich Institute of Diabetes Research in 1972. Like her husband, Mircea Flonta, a philosophy professor emeritus at the University of Bucharest, who was born in 1932, she is a member of the Romanian Academy. Both remain closely connected to the Foundation as members of the alumni association, the Humboldt Club Romania.
The coincidence of a lifetime occurred in the spring of 1972 at the reception of a hotel in Nuremberg. A colleague introduced us. We were both taking part in the study tour the Humboldt Foundation offers its sponsorship recipients during their research stay. Mircea had joined at short notice when a place had become available. We had no idea what would follow.
On the coach, we sat next to each other, discussed our subjects and found lots to talk about. We discovered that we both had Humboldt Fellowships in Munich, Mircea in the Philosophy Department at LMU, whilst I was a biologist, physiologist and neuroscientist at the Munich Institute of Diabetes Research. And we both came from the same university in Bucharest although we had never met there.
So, it was pure coincidence that we met. We spent our spare time during the research stay in Munich travelling, drove all over Europe. We wanted to make the most of that freedom because back in Romania, the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu was in power and it wasn’t so easy to get a passport.
For Mircea, the fellowship was a turningpoint and a huge career opportunity. When he first went to university in Romania, political cleansing was practised, and it was hardly possible to work professionally. I, too, was shaped by the time I spent in Munich. I would have liked to stay longer but the authorities called me back.
In 1974, we were both back in Romania, got married and had three sons. We both continued working in academia. In the mid- 1990s, I set up the Master’s course in neurobiology at the University of Bucharest where I still hold lectures to this day. Mircea also lectures in philosophy. It is a gift from heaven still to be active at our age.
We still often talk about academic issues – such as whether there is such a thing as free will. From the neuroscience point of view, thoughts and emotions are determined by the brain – philosophers look at it somewhat differently. So, we always have plenty to discuss. Just as we did on the coach during the Humboldt study tour in 1972.