Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No. 6
November 1999
Chemistry
in Today's Brazil
Professor Carlos A. L. Filgueiras (Departamento de Química
Inorganica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio
de Janeiro, C.P. 68563, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; E-mail:
[email protected]), a National Representative
for IUPAC's Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (II.2),
prepared this article. It is an English translation, edited slightly
for a non-Brazilian audience, of a Portuguese version that appeared
in the January/February issue of Química Nova. We thank
Professor Carol H. Collins (Instituto de Química, Universidade
Estadual de Campinas, C.P. 6154, 13803-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil), Executive
Secretary of the Brazilian Chemistry Committee (BCC), which represents
Brazil in IUPAC, for helping to facilitate publication of this contribution.
Summary
Chemistry in Colonial Brazil
Beginnings of Modern Chemistry in Brazil
Postwar Development of Chemistry in Brazil
Growth of Research and Graduate Programs
Chemical Industry in Today's Brazil
Educational and Research
Assessments
Role of Brazilian Scientific Societies
Chemistry in Brazil's Latin
American Neighbors
Overcoming Obstacles to Chemistry
in Today's Brazil
Future of Chemistry in Brazil
Summary
This article surveys the birth and development of the
chemical community in Brazil over the last 50 years. Chemistry in Brazil
has had its ups and downs over the years. The institutionalization of
chemistry took considerable time and still is irregular, depending in
part upon the whims of the government at any given time. Starting from
humble beginnings, a vigorous chemistry community developed and rapidly
expanded the scope of its activities across the country. Many problems
remain unsolved, however, and to these have now been added dismal government
policies that threaten to negate many of the accomplishments achieved
thus far. Brazilian chemistry is at the threshold of a new age that
will differ greatly from the previous half-century.
Chemistry in Colonial Brazil
Teaching of chemistry on a regular basis, as well as some
rudimentary research, began in the first years of the 19th
century, under the auspices of the Portuguese King John VI, who lived
in Rio de Janeiro from 1808 to 1821. These activities were, however,
very limited in scope. The situation did not change appreciably during
the remainder of the 19th century, with chemistry regarded
solely as an ancillary discipline in the study of other specialties,
such as engineering, medicine, or pharmacy.
Beginnings of Modern Chemistry
in Brazil
Curricula granting university degrees in chemistry were
created only during the first decades of the 20th century.
Their aim was to teach the state of the art, in order to prepare professionals
capable of supervising important analytical or synthetic processes,
transformations,
and control operations in the country's nascent industry. Original
contributions to the chemical sciences, experimental or theoretical,
were almost nonexistent. An important exception was the systematic research
undertaken at the University of São Paulo (USP) in the 1930s,
led by chemists who had emigrated from Germany. Nevertheless, this situation
was unique; despite the pioneering work led by those initial USP researchers
and their first Brazilian collaborators, the country as a whole remained
impervious to the idea of scientific research as a means to promote
progress. There was hardly any awareness of this need, because of the
scientific ignorance of the population, especially the elite.
Discontinuity in policies, programs, institutions, and
scientific activities was another important factor that slowed the development
of modern science in Brazil. The following pattern recurred often: from
time to time, a brilliant scientist or a group of scientists excelled
in some important work, gathering a following of disciples and often
founding an institution or school of thought. Their achievements were
recognized, sometimes widely, but after a certain time, support for
their work decreased and could even be discontinued. It was as if Brazilian
society liked the ephemeral glitter of scientific achievement and considered
it as some sort of cake frosting or a social ornament, not something
essential to the life and the progress of that same society.
Postwar Development of Chemistry
in Brazil
It was necessary to wait until the awareness of the need
to develop science grew stronger before concrete actions could be undertaken.
The period immediately after World War II witnessed this ripening process,
as a result of the evidence, shown in the military field, of what science
and technology can achieve. The enormity of the gap between Brazil and
many other allies in the war was shocking to many. The lack of any national
program or agency dealing with scientific development pointed to an
inexorable economic, social, and intellectual regression if nothing
were done. Thus, in 1951 the agencies of the National Research Council,
now the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
(CNPq), and the Coordination for Training of University Professors (CAPES)
were created, to fund and direct research, establish graduate programs
at the universities, and devise national policies of scientific and
educational development.
Several important research centers were also created in
that period, such as the Brazilian Center for Physical Research (CBPF)
and the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN), which were crucial,
in their early history, in discovering and nurturing new scientific
talents. Beside these institutions, various nongovernmental organizations
made their appearance, of which the most important at the time was the
Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), founded in
1948. Together, all those new organizations began to work to change
the country's scientific panorama. Progress was slow at first; the goal
was very ambitious and included creation of a body of scientists; establishment
of active research institutions; introduction of continuing scientific
research programs at universities; training of high-level scientists
in the widest possible number of specialties; and, above all, the beginning
of a change in a stubborn, nonscientific national mentality that was
centuries old.
In spite of all the obstacles, advancement was considerable
and, after two decades, at the beginning of the 1970s, there was clear
evidence of progress. Several graduate-level programs were functioning
regularly, and the universities, which had undergone thorough restructuring
in the late 1960s, proclaimed the need to pursue original research as
well as teaching. The university community already took for granted
that the creation of new knowledge was one of the pillars upon which
the institution must be founded; the transmission of knowledge alone,
however important, no longer sufficed.
Growth of Research and Graduate
Programs
Research and graduate programs grew at an extraordinary
pace in the 1970s and 1980s. There was ample political and financial
support for this development, which translated into remarkable quantitative
and qualitative growth of science in Brazil, in particular of chemistry.
Among the reasons for the success enjoyed by CNPq, particularly
as conductor of the national science and technology policies of the
1970s and 1980s, were strong financial backing and introduction of the
peer review system and scientific advisory committees, both drawn from
the scientific community. The scientific advisory committee system,
started in 1976, had enormous importance in decisions concerning recommendations
and resource allocations based on merit, rather than on political influence.
One of the indications of the political importance given
to scientific progress was the publication, in 1974, of a Basic Plan
for Scientific and Technological Development (PBDCT) as a government
priority. This kind of planning was considered to be so crucial that,
in 1976, a second plan succeeded the first. Also in 1974, both CNPq
and another agency, the Fund for Financing Studies and Research (FINEP),
were reformulated, enabling them to function for many years as effective
agents to promote the goals of PBDCT and other programs that followed
it.
A diagnosis for all scientific areas at the time was made
and published in 1974. The situation was a far cry from what exists
today, even taking into account any inaccuracies present in that document.
In December 1973, there were only 144 holders of doctorates in chemistry,
as well as 118 students pursuing doctorates in chemistry. To give an
idea of how things have changed, in 1997, Brazilian universities awarded
200 doctorates in chemistry, up from 170 in 1996 and 153 in 1995. Currently,
25 university programs grant doctorates in chemistry.
In 1996, there were 80 000 chemistry professionals, of
whom 50 000 were technicians and 30 000 were university-trained in chemistry
or chemical engineering. Of the university-educated professionals, more
than 1 600 had a doctorate and, of these, 90% were employed at universities.
Chemical Industry in Today's Brazil
Today Brazil is ranked among the top ten countries in
the world, with respect to the size of its chemical industry; this industry
is of paramount importance in creating jobs, internal wealth, and profits
from exports. This condition would not have occurred without the large
increase in chemical education and training programs at all levels,
as well as augmentation of related areas, such as metallurgy or mining,
in which chemistry plays a major role. In this manner, teaching institutions
responded to the challenges posed to them. However, most of the Brazilian
chemical industry is concerned mainly with producing relatively less
elaborate goods, such as petrochemicals, monomers, polymers, etc., in
large quantities. The specialty chemicals industry, which makes lesser
amounts of value-added products, is still quite modest. Development
of specialty chemicals will require, in addition to capital and political
will, a large number of high-level scientists in order to succeed.
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