Previous Fora / 2011
REZENDE, Sergio Machado
Former Minister of Science, Brazil
Sergio Machado Rezende graduated in Electrical Engineering in Rio de Janeiro in 1963 and received the MSc and PhD degrees from MIT in 1965 and 1967, both in Electrical Engineering- Materials Science. He was one of the founders and chairman of the Physics Department (1972 – 1975) of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), in Recife, where he is a Full Professor. He was twice Visiting Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara (1975-1976 and 1982-1984) and at the University if Zurich (1989). He has published over 220 scientific papers in international journals on dynamic excitation phenomena in magnetic materials, magnetic light scattering, phenomena in magnetic films and nano-structures and in spintronics. His scientific activities have never been interrupted by management positions he held, Dean of the Center for Exact Sciences of UFPE (1984-1988), Scientific Director of the Pernambuco Science Foundation (1990-1993), Secretary for Science and Technology of the state of Pernambuco (1995-1998), President of FINEP, the main federal agency for funding S&T in Brazil (2003-2005) and Minister for Science and Technology of Brazil (2005-2010).
ABSTRACT
10:00-11:40 17 NOVEMBER
PLENARY SESSION I. “THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF SCIENCE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES”
Science in Brazil: Never too late
Science in Brazil is still in a very young stage. In this talk I will review the historical development of science and technology in Brazil and show how it stands in the world in view of the progress made in the last decade. In 1960 there were less than 100 scientists with the PhD degree in the Country. This situation has changed dramatically and today there are over 80 000 scientists working in all areas of science and technology, mainly in the academic environment. In recent years the federal and state governments have implemented initiatives and increased their budgets to support S&T. Brazilian scientists and engineers are contributing in frontier areas in an increasingly faster pace. Companies are finally waking up for the need to conduct R&D activities and are hiring researchers with graduate education.