Ion Gavăț was a Romanian engineer and geologist, professor and since 1955 a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy. He specialized in oil and gas exploration and applied geophysics. In 1928, he was with the first expedition in Romania using gravimetric methods. He was part of the editorial board of the Romanian journal Studies and Research of Geology, Geophysics and Geography. His friends Mircea Socolescu and Toma Petre Ghițulescu, both geologists and geophysicists, were also members of the Romanian bob team at St. Moritz in 1928. This marked the first Romanian participation in the Olympic Winter Games.