The future scientist was born in Bucharest, the Wallachian capital, on August 9, 1840 (although traditionally believed to have been born on August 15 or August 21, and wrongly credited in some documents as a "Iași native"). He was of Armenian origins: the Meliks traced their origin to Ohan, a Gregorian Armenian clergyman. I. M. Melik's parents were Ohan's son, Arakel "Popovici" Melik, and his wife Maria Gedik; they had two other children: Gavril, a boy, and Anika, a girl. Ohan's other son, Iacob Melic, was a successful architect. The Ottoman statesman Mustafa Reshid Pasha recommended his work to the Wallachian government, but Iacob left the country and settled in Paris. From his new home, Iacob Melik corresponded with the exiled leaders of the 1848 Revolution, in particular the moderate and pro-Ottoman faction of Ion Ghica, Alexandru G. Golescu and Nicolae Pleșoianu.