In addition to documentary research, the publication features testimonials from characters, such as former directors, teachers, former students and industry professionals.
From modest rooms in a mansion on Rua Culto à Ciência to a complex of buildings on the Unicamp campus, with more than 40 laboratories for teaching and research. From a beginning with few teachers with master's or doctorate degrees to a body of 90 teachers at the head of one of the largest undergraduate and postgraduate programs in its area in the country, with significant contributions to the training of qualified human resources and technological development of the national industry.
Unicamp's Mechanical Engineering activities completed half a century in 2017 and are reported in a book launched this Monday afternoon, in a ceremony held in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FEM). “50 years of Mechanical Engineering at Unicamp – A success story”, written by journalists and writers José Pedro Soares Martins and Paulo Cesar Nascimento, highlights the main events that marked the five decades of existence of this area at the University, which highlights the overcoming challenges and the permanent search for innovation.
With 112 pages and a preface by professor Yaro Burian Jr, the book covers a period of time that goes from the beginnings of the Mechanical Engineering course, when the degree began to operate at the beginning of 1967 at the then Escola Industrial Bento Quirino, along with other pioneering areas from Unicamp. At the time, Mechanical Engineering was one of the departments that made up the Faculty of Engineering of Campinas (then FEC) together with the Department of Electrical Engineering. The postgraduate course would begin operating in 1974 with the master's degree course and the following year with the doctorate. The then FEC would last until 1988, when its departments became faculties and the Department of Mechanical Engineering changed its name to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FEM).
“In this book we seek to record remarkable aspects of these 50 years of history, of work done with dedication, with commitment, shared by all teachers, staff, collaborators and students who passed through here, leaving their contributions in teaching, research, extension, innovation and training of human resources”, highlighted professor Dr. Alberto Luiz Serpa, current director of FEM and associate director in the four-year period 2014-2018, the period in which the work began to be prepared.
To reconstruct the remarkable trajectory of FEM, the content of the book, in addition to documentary research, is based above all on rich testimonies from characters who experienced episodes from the period covered by the work, including former directors, teachers, former students and professionals of the industry.
The commemorative work also presents important iconographic content, with the reproduction of photos and archival documents provided by SIARQ-Unicamp and interviewees. A rare period image shows, for example, the historic meeting in which businessmen from Campinas, led by José Antônio Maranho, then representative of the industry Equipamentos Clark Ltda, handed over to the president of the Organizing Committee of the University of Campinas, Zeferino Vaz, the draft of Engineering courses at Unicamp. News in Campinas newspapers in 1966, also reproduced in the book, highlights this strong mobilization of the industrial segment.
A Faculty with industry
In his speech during the ceremony, professor Antonio Carlos Bannwart, creator of the book project and director of FEM in the period 2014-2018, praised the thorough work developed by the authors and drew attention to the fact that the work demonstrates how much The role played by multinational industries installed in Campinas in the 1960s, including Clark, IBAF, Singer, Bendix, Bosch and GE, is notable in FEM's trajectory.
“Since the founding of the University, the local industrial sector expressed the need for training engineers to meet the expanding demands of industries in Campinas and the region. It was then that representatives of these companies formulated the initial project for our undergraduate course, provided engineers to teach, as well as equipment and facilities for internships. I would say that this partnership was the heart of FEM and this link with the industry diversified and intensified over time”.
This aspect was also highlighted by writer José Pedro Soares Martins in his speech. “More than being remarkable in the trajectory of FEM, this connection with businesspeople shows how much Mechanical Engineering and Unicamp in general contributed to making Campinas an international reference”. For him, it was a great honor to participate in the production of a book that attests to FEM's contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge and technological innovation in the national industry, at a time when science and research in Brazil are suffering attacks instead of receive more encouragement and promotion.
Living memory
Also present at the ceremony, the rector of Unicamp Marcelo Knobel congratulated FEM on the initiative to publish the book and highlighted the relevance of the work to rescue and remember moments in the institution's trajectory.
“We need to recover history and value the work that was done by generations of people who passed through the University. I congratulate FEM, the authors and everyone who is here today and who has a life story connected with Unicamp, especially with Mechanical Engineering”.
For him, initiatives that seek to tell and distinguish the history of teaching and research units, contributing to keeping the memories of these institutions alive, need to be expanded at the University.
“Unicamp is just over 50 years old and most of the characters who lived through this period are still here, among us, and need to be heard. The authors do very good work, in a very interesting niche, and we now need to explore this opportunity to listen and record the testimonies of these people.”
In this sense, the authors announced during the ceremony their intention to produce a book with the memories of the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC). “We would really like to be able to complete the trilogy about the units that had as their common core of origin the extinct Faculty of Engineering of Campinas (FEC)”, explained Paulo Cesar Nascimento, who is also the author of the book about the main moments in the history of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FEQ), published in 2014.
During the event at the FEM amphitheater, former directors of the unit, testimonials of the book and the Dean of the Faculty, Cleusa de Vasconcelos Lima, were honored through the delivery of autographed copies. Dean of FEM, director of the institution for two terms and one of those interviewed for the publication, Prof. Dr. Antonio Celso Fonseca de Arruda highlighted that the work, “through a pleasant narrative, links facts and events with eras and collective emotions, and allows us to remember with nostalgia the good times lived here”.
Produced by the publisher PCN Comunicação in a special edition with hardcover and 21,5 x 28,8 cm format, “50 years of Mechanical Engineering at Unicamp – A success story” brings images of current FEM installations produced by photographer Adriano Rosa, has graphic design and layout by designer Alcebíades Godoy and review by Martha Jalkauskas.
In addition to the printed edition, the work was also made available free of charge to the public by FEM in digital.
