Unicamp held this Thursday (28/4) the ceremony to award the title of Professor Emeritus to Bernardino Figueiredo, professor, researcher and former director of the Geosciences Institute (IG). The professor's family and friends paid tribute to his 39-year academic career at Unicamp, his pioneering spirit in the implementation of IG's undergraduate and postgraduate courses and his fight for democracy and the preservation of the planet. The proposal to grant the title, sent by professors Álvaro Crosta, Carlos Roberto Filho and Jacinta Enzweiller, was approved by the University Council (Consu) on November 30, 2021.
"I will follow my grandson's advice so that I speak here from the heart. Unicamp is very important for all of us. I thank everyone for this tribute", summarizes Bernardino. The ceremony was led by rector Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, accompanied by General Coordinator Maria Luiza Moretti. Participating in the ceremony were professors Marcio Cataia, director of the IG; Jacinta Enzweiler, IG teacher and Bernardino's godmother; Guilherme Figueiredo, son of the honoree and professor at the State University of Amazonas, who represented professor José Seixas Lourenço, professor at the Federal University of Pará and godfather of the new professor emeritus, and Leda Gitahy, professor at IG and wife of Bernardino.
Interdisciplinarity as an objective
Bernardino joined Unicamp in 1980 and was one of the pioneers in creating the Geosciences Institute, together with Professor Amílcar Herrera, founder of the unit. Throughout his career, he encouraged interdisciplinarity in the training of IG students, which was reflected in the creation of undergraduate courses in Geography and Geology and in the research carried out in postgraduate programs.
"I met Bernardino in 1998, when he coordinated the seminars we promoted to prepare Geology and Geography courses. At that moment, a deep respect for him was born in me, especially for his ability to coordinate different groups in an innovative project, which proposed something that the University did not yet know", recalls Márcio Cataia. He is also recognized for the social responsibility he attributed to his work. "Among the lessons I learned from Bernardino that I always remember is the researcher's commitment to communicating his scientific findings with immediate social interest, always in a responsible and ethical way", says Jacinta Enzweiler.
In 2001, his book Minerals and Environment was ranked among the ten best titles in the Exact Sciences, Technology and Information category by the Jabuti Prize. He also coordinated the project "Geochemical and Environmental Landscapes of Vale do Ribeira", financed by Fapesp, bringing together researchers from different areas and which gave rise to new similar projects. He graduated 22 masters, nine doctors and supervised two post-doctoral research. His research yielded 60 articles, four books and 23 book chapters. He was director of the IG between 1989 and 1993, director-president of the Unicamp Development Foundation (Funcamp) and coordinator of the Center for Environmental Studies and Research (Nepam). In 1997 and 2006, he received the "Zeferino Vaz" Academic Recognition Award. He dedicated himself especially to Environmental Geochemistry and Medical Geology, areas marked by interdisciplinarity.
Rector Antonio Meirelles highlighted the importance of people like Bernardino for the university to fulfill its objective of contributing to the development of society. "We are looking for beacons, examples, people who can summarize the expectations that the University should have for the future. Professor Bernardino is one of those people capable of inspiring us in this direction", he points out.
Leaving seeds of hope
Born in Belém (PA) in 1946, Bernardino began his academic career when he was selected for a training program in Geosciences that sent students to the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and São Paulo (USP). Thanks to this, he entered the Geology course at USP in 1965, where he also participated in the student movement.
"We were influenced by Sartre's thought that we would change the world and, therefore, live little. I fell in love with Bernardino because he told me the following: 'Leda, we are going to live! We do all this not to die, but to have children, grandchildren and ending our lives in a little house by the beach (laughs)"
With the Military Dictatorship, the couple left for Chile in 1969. There, they resumed their studies at the University of Chile, taught mineralogy and worked in the areas of Economic Geology and Metallogenesis at a mining company. With the coup that occurred in the country in September 1973, both were arrested by the Chilean dictatorship. Leda and her five-month-old son Guilherme spent three days in detention, but Bernardino remained in prison for 42 days.
With the help of the United Nations Refugee Commission (UNHCR), the family left for Sweden in November 1973. During this period, they managed to revalidate the studies carried out at USP and the University of Chile, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. and a PhD in Geosciences in 1980 from Uppsala University. With the Amnesty Law approved in Brazil in 1979, the couple and their children Guilherme and Francisco returned to the country in April 1980.
Leda attributes to her partner the resilience and hope necessary to get through difficult periods. "In many moments, we thought we would never come back. But we came back, we survived. This tribute shows that we cannot give up. We have to be resilient and choose the most relevant themes, which are the defense of life, the planet and democracy", highlights .
For Guilherme, the title is recognition for the example he received in his family and that generations of students have received in the classroom. "The tribute to my father strengthens the public university's commitment to the people of Brazil and the Amazon, especially its popular classes, and also to the rights of nature. His life was about combating authoritarianism and the decolonization of science, leaving seeds and seedlings that we now care for with dedication. They are seeds of hope".
