section_path: Early life and education
section_name: Early life and education
paragraph_text: Early life and education
  
  Born in Făgăraș, Brașov County, he attended the Radu Negru High School in his native city, graduating in 1988. He came first in the International Mathematical Olympiads in 1987 and 1988 with perfect scores. Dan moved to Bucharest at the age of 18 and began studying mathematics at the University of Bucharest.
  
  In 1992, he moved to France to continue studying mathematics; he attended the École Normale Supérieure, one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles, where he earned a master's degree. In 1998 Dan completed a PhD in mathematics at Paris 13 University, with thesis "Courants de Green et prolongement méromorphe" written under the direction of Christophe Soulé and Daniel Barsky. He returned to Bucharest that year, giving as reasons the cultural differences and the desire to change Romania.
  
  Dan was one of the creators and the first administrative director of the Școala Normală Superioară București, a university set up on the model of the French École Normale Supérieure within the Romanian Academy 's Institute of Mathematics. As of 2011, he was a professor of mathematics at the institute.