Luiz Sugimoto
Pi meson is a subparticle of the atom's nucleus, fundamental for nuclear research. Its discovery, in 1947, caused a great impact on the global scientific community and its discoverer was the Brazilian César Lattes, who would later work at the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics (IFGW) at Unicamp, choosing Campinas to live in to this day. He and José Leite Lopes, another notable compatriot physicist, worked at the frontier of knowledge and participated in the implementation of the Brazilian Center for Physical Research (CBPF, in 1949) and the then National Research Council (CNPq, in 1951).
Lattes and Leite Lopes were part of a brilliant generation of scientists, born from the creation of USP and the University of the Federal District (UDF), and simply responsible for the emergence of modern science and universities in the country. Both are the stars of Brazilian Scientists, 52-minute documentary intended to be the first in a project covering the history of other exponents of Brazilian science. The film is directed by José Mariani, with narration by musician Arnaldo Antunes, music by Aluisio Didier and photography by Guy Gonçalves.
“It's not a scientific film, it's a film about the history of science”, emphasizes Mariani, who has been negotiating the broadcast through pay channels and also through state broadcasters such as TV Educativa and TV Cultura. In fact, the language is television. The content mixes Antunes' narration with testimonies from professors Simon Schwartzman, Alfredo Marques, Fernando de Souza Barros, Marcelo Damy, Henrique Lins de Barros, Amélia Império Hambúrguer, Edson Shibuya and Humberto Brandi, as well as César Lattes and Leite Lopes themselves. And the result is a linear, simple and attractive story, in which even we mortals can understand what a Pi Meson is.
Cinema and science – “Science does not exclude poetry”, said filmmaker Glauber Rocha on one occasion. José Mariani, director of Cientistas Brasileiros, before the screening of his documentary in the auditorium of the Institute of Physics 'Gleb Wataghin' (IFGW) at Unicamp, on May 15, allowed himself to complement with the reverse: “Cinema does not exclude science ”.
Mariani realized that there are few films about Brazilian science – and about Brazilian scientists –, mainly in the so-called “hard sciences” area, such as Physics, Chemistry or Biology, which are difficult for laymen to understand. He explains that the idea of a documentary film is very generic, broad, and that this idea, in fact, only emerges as one begins to study and research the themes.
“Reading, I discovered this generation that started doing science in the post-war period here in the country. A brilliant generation, the first to graduate from USP (1934) and, in the case of Rio, with Leite Lopes, the first to graduate from University of the Federal District (1935). These two institutions created the modern university in Brazil”, highlights the director.
Mariani, based on the biographical path of these scientists, places the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory as a symbolic legacy of the generation that founded today's existing science and technology institutions, such as Unicamp, UnB, CNPq and CBPF. “The history of CBPF itself has a parallel with Cinema Novo: Glauber, very young, achieved international success (he won the Cannes Prize) and based on his prestige, a modern cinema movement was established. By this I mean that in Brazil the independent arts (arts, sciences) have to discover and create their spaces. In the case of cinema, we have to invent the viability of cinema. This generation of scientists was born into this environment.”
Five films – José Mariani and his team took exactly two years to complete Cientistas Brasileiros (from January 2000 to January 2002). “When creating a documentary, it takes a lot of time to look for resources and you need to transform this time into capital. This ended up helping to mature the editing process”, explains the director.
A film professor at PUC in Rio de Janeiro, Mariani has been assistant director to Tizuka Yamasaki, Eduardo Escorel and David Neves, and adds that his project encompasses five documentaries about Brazilian scientists. The second must do justice to the other physicists of the generation that enchanted the director: Mário Schoemberg, Marcelo Damy, Jayme Tiomni and Maurício Peixoto. Biologists and botanists will probably be movie stars following.
PHRASES
BY CÉSAR LATTES
* History is the most important of the sciences. I know that without history there is no objective reality.
* Science cannot predict what will happen. You can only predict the probability of something happening.
* The great discoveries of science were made, until recently, by chance. By people who wanted to know how nature was made. So I followed Leonardo da Vinci's advice: “Go learn your lessons in nature”.
* (Choosing to return to Brazil after the success achieved abroad) was just a gratitude to give back what we gained.
LOPES MILK
*Princeton University is a beauty and left fantastic traces in me. Furthermore, Princeton had the greatest scientists of the time, such as Einstein. So, we learned how Physics was done, how research was done and how this contributed to the country's development.
*Rainer Maria Hilke lived in a lonely castle and, there, alone, he invented his poems. Listen:
"Earth, isn't this what you want? / Resurface by diving into us / Isn't it your dream once to become invisible? / I think this is the invisible Earth / We built you with trembling hands / And we raised your towers, atom upon atom / So you You can complete it, oh cathedral!”
What he says to the cathedral applies to knowledge, to science. Who can complete? It will never be completed. And, with trembling hands, you will build.
