The 70 years of the history of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), its trajectory, since its creation in 1948, are recorded in the 510 pages of the book “Science for Brazil – 70 years of SBPC”. The official launch will be today, July 08th, Wednesday, in live broadcast on SBPC's digital channels: youtubbe.com/canalsbpc and facebook.com/sbpc.
Participating in the book launch will be sociologist and former president of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, biochemist Jorge Guimarães and physicist José Goldemberg. They will look back at the role of the SBPC in the scientific, political and cultural life of the country, covering different areas of knowledge: Human, Biological and Exact Sciences. “On the one hand, the SBPC was a fundamental part of keeping the national system active. of science, technology and innovation, and then make the country – especially its leaders – see how essential this system is for the nation's development”, highlights the entity's president, Ildeu de Castro Moreira. “On another front, certainly not foreseen by its creators, the SBPC positioned itself in the social fabric no longer as a strictly scientific entity, but rather as an instrument of citizenship, democracy and the rule of law, which emerged as a response to the dictatorial regime implemented in the country in 1964, making its annual meetings the most expressive and comprehensive forum of Brazilian society for criticizing the excesses of military governments and for the fight for the re-democratization of the country”, he added.
Structured into 15 chapters, it covers the history of the entity, its annual meetings in different Brazilian regions, its defense of democracy and the country's scientific and technological development. It has the participation of researchers, historians and journalists and science communicators. The work also includes a chapter rich in images of documents, publications, personalities and events relevant to the history of the SBPC.
The book is organized by biomedical scientist and former president of SBPC (2011-2017) Helena Nader, pharmacist Vanderlan Bolzani, vice-president of SBPC (2015-2019), and journalist José Roberto Ferreira.
Labjor has an active participation in different contents of the book with three of its researchers and journalists: in chapter 6, Scientific Information for all”, authored by Germana Barata and Graça Caldas; in chapter 7, “In a country with an illiterate majority, the SBPC fought for the expansion of public education”, by Sabine Righetti and Nádia Pontes, DW correspondent in Brazil, and former student of the Specialization Course in Scientific Journalism; chapter 5, “Through the interior of Brazil”, by the journalist and former Labjor teacher, and also former SBPC Communication coordinator, Fabíola de Oliveira, and in chapter 10, “Several languages, one language”, by also former Specialization student, Samuel Antenor.
