Illustrates Felipe Cachopa
Edition Felipe van Deursen
There were many, in various areas, and all helped in the progress of science and directly benefited millions of people. These discoveries coincide with a national scientific effervescence in the first half of the 20th century, which influenced the training of scientists and the founding of institutions such as the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (1916), the University of São Paulo (1934) and the National Institute for Space Research ( 1961).
Unfortunately, the military dictatorship (1964-1985) undermined the production of knowledge, with scholars persecuted, imprisoned or exiled – according to the latest survey by the portal Science in the Dictatorship, at least 483 scientists suffered some form of censorship. With the end of the regime, our science evolved again (albeit at a slow pace). The most recent highlights were the creation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, in 1985, and research in the fields of neuroscience (Miguel Nicolelis’s brain-machine interface) and astrophysics (observation of hitherto unpublished space events). Check out our gallery of notables.
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Vital Brazil, immunologist, 1898 – Specificity of antivenom
Antivenom was created in 1894 by Frenchman Albert Calmett to treat bites from venomous snakes. It was believed that he acted universally from the venom of a single species, the cobra. Vital Brazil believed that each type of snake venom should be treated in a specific way. For this, it produced different antidotes for rattlesnake and pit viper bites. Also, he invented the polyvalent serum (which is effective for a group of snakes, not just one)
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Carlos Chagas, sanitary doctor, 1909 – Chagas disease
Never before in the history of medicine has the complete cycle of a disease been identified. Chagas disease traced all the way: vector (kissing beetle), causative agent (protozoan trypanosoma cruzi), domestic reservoir (cat), characteristics and complications and means of combat. The discovery came while he was fighting malaria in Minas Gerais. Chagas was recognized internationally, named the disease and became an important name in the fight against tropical diseases
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Mário Schenberg (and George Gamow, USA), astrophysicists, 1940 – Urca Process
The process describes the explosion of a supernova, in which the presence of particles called neutrinos causes the disappearance of energy in the core of the star, causing its collapse and consequent explosion. The name “Urca” is a reference to the extinct casino of Urca, in Rio de Janeiro, about which Schenberg said that “the energy of supernovae disappears as fast as the money of the gamblers present here”
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- César Lattes (and Cecil Frank Powell, UK, and Giuseppe Occhialini, Italy), physicists, 1947 – Pi meson particle
A particle present in the nucleus of atoms, the pi meson was essential to understand the forces acting in this atomic region and its stability, giving rise to a new field of study (that of elementary particles). The discovery earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1950, but only Powell was awarded.
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Maurício Rocha e Silva, pharmacologist, 1949 – Bradykinin
Important in the control of hypertension, bradykinin is a vasodilator present in the blood. Rocha e Silva discovered it with the help of Wilson Beraldo and Gastão Rosenfeld while analyzing the action of pit viper venom on a dog. Since the 1970s, many drugs for the disease have bradykinin in their formula.
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Johanna Döbereiner, agronomist, 1950s – Nitrogen fixing bacteria
Döbereiner identified specific types of bacteria that help nourish plants by fixing nitrogen in the roots. This helped to reduce the environmental impact and make domestic soy production cheaper (today, Brazil is one of the largest exporters). Döbereiner is the most cited Brazilian scientist abroad
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Crodowaldo Pavan, geneticist, 1957 – Gene amplification
The discovery overthrew the idea that cells have the same amount of genetic material. The feat occurred when Pavan found the fly Rhynchosciara angelae on the coast of São Paulo. He identified the duplication of genes present in chromosomes, without the occurrence of cell division. It was a major breakthrough in DNA studies.
– (Felipe Cachopa/)
- Marcos dos Mares Guia, biochemist, 1990 – Recombinant human insulin
Initially extracted from the pancreas of cattle and pigs, insulin intended for diabetics could cause allergic reactions. Mares Guia discovered a method in which the bacteria E coli, present in our body, receives the human insulin production gene and starts to manufacture it naturally. Solved the allergy problem and made production cheaper
The Nobel Taboo
Why do we never get one?
In more than one hundred years of history, few Brazilians have “almost” won the main science award in the world. Of those cited here, Chagas, Rocha e Silva, Schenberg and Lattes came closest to achieving the feat. Since the process for choosing the winners is secret, it’s hard to understand why this or that one didn’t win. The fact that Lattes did not win is that, at the time, only the leader of the group was awarded – in this case, the British Powell.
For biochemist Debora Foguel, member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Brazil still does not have a Nobel Prize for three reasons: our science is very young compared to that of other countries, most researchers do not receive enough resources and constantly, which is essential for the work, and the number of Brazilian scientists is still very small. A feather.
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