The retired professor from the Chemistry Institute (IQ) at Unicamp, Fernando Galembeck, received the Award from the Brazilian Metallurgy and Mining Company (CBMM) 2020 in the technology area. The award is given to professionals who have generated relevant impacts on the country through the development of practical applications. CBMM annually recognizes researchers with significant contributions to the development of Brazil. There are two main awards: in the area of technology, awarded to Galembeck, and in the area of science, awarded this year to epidemiologist Cesar Victora (UFPel).
“It’s the biggest award in Brazil for science and technology, so it’s very important,” says Galembeck. He says that he was enrolled by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, of which he is a full member, and that he will also use the value of the award to develop the research he is currently carrying out. “As the thing that I enjoy most is doing research, I’m going to use a good portion of it for research,” he says.
Trajectory
Fernando Galembeck graduated in Chemistry from the University of São Paulo (USP), where he also completed his doctorate. In 1980 he joined Unicamp as a professor, where he retired as a full professor in 2011, continuing his activities as a collaborator. He has a broad history of research in materials development and innovation. CBMM highlights, in the award, that the researcher created solutions to economic, social and industrial problems. Furthermore, he points out that the professor made discoveries that generated R&D activities in companies and industrial products, in addition to having worked as a consultant and R&D executor in manufacturing industries in various sectors. "It can thus identify important scientific gaps, which allowed new discoveries in parallel with the creation of new products and manufacturing processes", says the entity.
Throughout his career, Galembeck also participated in the implementation of the Development Support Program. Scientific and Technological (PADCT), which helped to boost the area of Chemistry in Brazil, and won awards for its work in the area of nanotechnology (III Scientists and Entrepreneurs of the Year Award Instituto Nanocell/2018), in the area of Innovation (Abiquim/2005) , in addition to several other recognitions, such as the Álvaro Alberto Science and Technology Award (CNPq/Wessel 2007) and the Anísio Teixeira Award (MEC/2011), considered one of the greatest awards for educators.
Galembeck was also vice-rector of Unicamp (1998-2002), directed the National Nanotechnology Laboratory, the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials, in Campinas, and held management roles at the Ministry of Science and Technology; at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); at the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) and at the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes).
Currently, the researcher says he has two main lines of work. “One is with electrification phenomena, how static electricity appears and this has to do with lightning and lightning and has to do with electrostatic discharges inside the house. Another is the work with non-metallic conductive materials, which are a new class of materials from renewable, abundant, low-cost sources that serve a series of applications.”
