The approximately 1.200 meters that separate the Executive Secretariat for Communication (SEC) from the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics (IFGW) at Unicamp are covered in a different way in January. Due to school holidays, there is practically no traffic, which allows perfect hearing of the chirps, chirps and chirps of the different species of birds that inhabit or frequent the campus located in the District of Barão Geraldo, in Campinas (SP). The mission of the day is to interview Professor Daniel Mario Ugarte, an Argentinean living in Brazil since 1993 and one of the pioneers of nanoscience research in the country. The theme of the meeting is the recent award in the area of Physics granted to the professor by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), an entity based in Trieste, Italy. Ugarte is the second scientist at the University to receive this distinction. The first was Cesar Lattes, in 1987.
TWAS is one of the most important scientific corporations in the world. It was created in 1983 by a group of distinguished scientists, led by Pakistani Abdus Salam, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979, together with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg. The objective of the initiative, which has the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), is to stimulate the progress of science in developing countries. The award distinguishes the contributions made by the laureate to the advancement of knowledge in their area of activity, but also to education and culture. “I was extremely happy to receive this award. This is an important recognition of the studies I have been carrying out throughout my career”, declares Ugarte.
The award ceremony took place last November, during the 28th TWAS General Conference, at the institution's headquarters. The IFGW-Unicamp professor received US$15 and a plaque. Installed in his cramped room with a high occupancy rate, Ugarte receives the report to outline a summary of his trajectory through the scientific universe. And he says right away: “I invested a lot of time in my research.” Son of a simple family, he graduated in Physics in Argentina, did his doctorate in France and post-doctorate in Switzerland. “When I was finishing my degree, I chose the area of electronic microscopy, because it offered employment, and I needed to work. It was a technique widely used in different areas, such as Physics, Geology and Biology,” he says.
In France, he came into contact with a more advanced type of microscopy, called transmission electron microscopy, a technique used to analyze the properties of extremely small objects. Afterwards, in Switzerland, he dedicated himself to investigating the mechanisms that cause the properties of materials to change according to their size. In other words, Ugarte participated in the initial research into what would later become known as nanoscience, the science that studies nature on an atomic scale. In 1993, the physicist arrived in Brazil to work at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), located a few kilometers from Unicamp.
There, he dedicated himself to creating the Electron Microscopy Laboratory, with a very clear mission. “I divide my work into two parts. The first is the development of advanced research associated with the training of qualified human resources. The second is the search for structural or infrastructure solutions that bring benefits to the scientific community and society. That’s what I did at Sínchrotron and what I continue to do here at Unicamp,” he says. Both in the classroom and in the laboratory, Ugarte is a “hard-line” professor-advisor, as he himself admits. For the physique, good is not acceptable because it can be improved. “The level of Brazilian science is not very high on average, although there are very competent people in all areas. We need to increase our critical mass, and this can only be achieved by training people to high standards, which requires a lot of study and dedication. Pushing work with your belly doesn’t work for me,” he warns.
More than charging, Ugarte provides an example of how effort is important and brings positive results. When he was doing his postdoctoral work in Switzerland, one of the richest countries in the world, he and his colleagues had a set of highly advanced equipment. It turns out that, at 17pm, everyone finished work and went home. “I kept asking myself: how do these people have all this at their disposal and not take advantage of it any longer? That's when I started staying in the laboratory after normal working hours, 'playing'. At night, I could carry out experiments considered 'unusual or irreverent'. It turns out that my best-known article, which was on the cover of Nature magazine in 1992 and deals with the discovery of carbon onions, was developed under these conditions. That’s why I always repeat to my students: play, don’t stress, exercise creativity.”
As important as dedicating yourself to a topic or line of research is knowing when to seek new challenges, according to Ugarte. He himself developed a remarkable ability to reinvent himself over time. After studying the structure of carbon abroad, the scientist chose to work, in Brazil, with metallic nanowires, based on images generated with the instruments built at LNLS. “We need to understand that, eventually, lines of research die. The one I was carrying around the metallic nanowires died, for several reasons. I am currently refocusing my investigations. I am using electron microscopy and new electron diffraction methods to understand nanomaterials. The objective, now, is no longer just to see atoms, but to observe and interpret how they are arranged in extremely small particles. Conventional electron microscopy does not provide this answer, as it cannot locate it. We have already managed to take the first measurement. The next step is to see if we can reach a resolution that allows us to solve scientific problems”, he details.
In Ugarte's dictionary, the word “problem”, it should be noted, is clearly a synonym for stimulus. It is, so to speak, the driver for the development of solutions that enable the discovery of a greater solution. “We scientists need to answer questions. This takes time, but if it doesn't, it's not worth it. If I have to measure, if I have to use software, I always prefer to develop these tools rather than using something ready-made. We have to build. I prefer to do few things, but things with quality. Unfortunately, science has a lot of ego. It turns out that prestige in science comes from competence. I keep telling my students that science is not limited to the walls of a university or the borders of a country. When you have respect from the world, local mediocracy matters little. It is competence that defines destiny in a scientific career, not politics”, he considers.
