Crodowaldo Pavan (; December 1, 1919 – April 3, 2009) was a Brazilian
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
and
geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...
, and a scientific leader in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
Early life
Pavan was born to a family of second-generation
immigrant
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
s from
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in 1919, in the city of
Campinas
Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...
,
São Paulo state
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. His great-grandfather was an expert in textile paints and a militant
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
, who was frequently persecuted and imprisoned in Italy as well as in Brazil for his political activism. As a boy, influenced by his father's
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
manufacturing plant at
Mogi das Cruzes
Mogi das Cruzes ( or ) is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, located within the metropolitan region of the state capital of the city of São Paulo. The population is 450,785 (2020 est.) in an area of 713 km2. It is located 40&n ...
, he wished to follow a career in
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, but changed radically when he had the opportunity in
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
to attend a lecture by noted
French physician and professor
André Dreyfus and a screening of the film "
The Story of Louis Pasteur
''The Story of Louis Pasteur'' is a 1936 American black-and-white biographical film from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by William Dieterle, that stars Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise and Donald Woods, and Paul Muni as t ...
", starring Oscar-winning actor
Paul Muni in the title role.
Studies
Following Dreyfus' advice, in 1938 he enrolled in a course of
natural history at the
University of São Paulo
The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best ...
, continuing to work in biological research under his mentor. His doctoral thesis on the subject of the blind
cave fish
Cavefish or cave fish is a generic term for fresh and brackish water fish adapted to life in caves and other underground habitats. Related terms are subterranean fish, troglomorphic fish, troglobitic fish, stygobitic fish, phreatic fish and hypog ...
''
Pimelodella kronei
''Pimelodella kronei'' is a species of three-barbeled catfish endemic to Brazil. Discovered by the German naturalist Sigismund Ernst Richard Krone, it was the first troglobitic fish described in Brazil, but several others have been described lat ...
'' (
syn. ''Typhlobagrus kronci'') was completed in the same institution. In 1942, he accepted a position as assistant professor at the University of São Paulo, and quickly became a full professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1978.
In 1942, Pavan became involved in a pioneering research project on the
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
,
taxonomy
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
and
ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
of ''
Drosophila
''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...
'' fruit flies, financed by the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
under the direction of the noted Russian-American biologist
Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (russian: Феодо́сий Григо́рьевич Добржа́нский; uk, Теодо́сій Григо́рович Добржа́нський; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a prominent ...
. This subject became Pavan's lifelong research interest and the source of his international recognition. In particular, Dr. Pavan introduced into biology the cytogenetical study of ''
Rhynchosciara angelae'', a fly which is noted for its giant
chromosome
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
s, thus facilitating the determination of the loci of
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
s. He and his collaborators were among the first to prove that the structure of genes and chromosomes was not fixed and could be changed by
infection
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
s.
In 1966, Pavan accepted an invitation from the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...
in
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
to establish a laboratory for further investigation on cellular genetics. In 1968, he accepted an invitation to become a
tenure
Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...
d
full professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, in
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. He returned to Brazil in 1975, and, after officially retiring from his post at the University of São Paulo, he accepted the position of full professor at the recently founded
State University of Campinas
The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among the top universities in Brazil and Latin ...
, working as departmental chairman and dean of the
Instituto de Biologia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Institute of Biology) until a second retirement. He is currently an
emeritus professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at both universities.
Influence
As a scientific leader, Pavan was very influential and became involved in the main development of
science and technology in Brazil
Science and technology in Brazil has entered the international arena in recent decades. The central agency for science and technology in Brazil is the Ministry of Science and Technology, which includes the CNPq and Finep. This ministry also ...
in the second half of the 20th century. He was president of the National Research Council (
CNPq
The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, pt, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, earlier ) is an organization of the Brazilian federal government under the Ministry of Scien ...
) from 1986 to 1990, and president of the
Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science from 1980 to 1986, a critical period for the redemocratization of the country, when the Society played a leading role in civil resistance to the military government.
Pavan was a member of several international scientific societies, such as the
Third World Academy of Sciences
The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...
, the
Academy of Sciences of Lisbon
The Lisbon Academy of Sciences ( pt, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa) is Portugal's national academy dedicated to the advancement of sciences and learning, with the goal of promoting academic progress and prosperity in Portugal. It is one of Po ...
, the
Physiographic Academy of Lund, and the
Academy of Sciences of Chile, and received decorations, medals, and awards from several countries. He was one of the few Brazilians who was a member of the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( it, Pontificia accademia delle scienze, la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a Academy of sciences, scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the ...
. He was also a member of the
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences ( pt, italic=yes, Academia Brasileira de Ciências or ''ABC'') is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded on May 3, 1916.
Publications
It publishes a lar ...
, and one of the founders of the
Academy of Sciences of São Paulo, the
Academy of Medicine of São Paulo, the
Academy of Letters of São Paulo, the
Academy of Education of São Paulo, and the
Brazilian Society of Genetics as well as one of its presidents.
During the final part of his life Pavan lived in
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
and was involved in several activities related to the
public understanding of science
Public awareness of science (PAwS) is everything relating to the awareness, attitudes, behaviors, opinions, and activities that comprise the relations between the general public or lay society as a whole to scientific knowledge and organization. ...
. He was one of the founders and directors of the
Associação Brasileira de Divulgação Científica, and was still active in research on the
biological control
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...
of agricultural plagues.
Death
Pavan died on April 3, 2009 at the University Hospital of the
University of São Paulo
The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best ...
, of
multiple organ failure
Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring medical intervention to achieve homeostasis.
Although Irwin and Rippe cautioned in 2005 that the use of "multiple organ failure" or "multisy ...
resultant of complications after a
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
surgery.
Decorations
*Comendador da Ordem do Rio Branco - Ministério das Relações Exteriores - 1986
*Oficial da Ordem do Mérito - Forças Armadas do Brasil - 1986
*Ordem da Inconfidência - Governo do Estado de Minas Gerais - 1987
*Grande Oficial da Ordem do Mérito - Governo da Republica Portuguesa - 1987
*Grã-Cruz da
Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico - Presidency of the Republic of Brazil - 1994
Medals
*Medalha "Anchieta" - Câmara de Vereadores da cidade de São Paulo - 1988
*Medalha CAPES 50 Anos - CAPES/MEC - Jul/2001
Awards
*Prêmio Nacional de Genética - 1963
*Prêmio Moinho Santista (Biologia) -
Fundação Moinho Santista - 1980
*Prêmio "Alfred Jurzykowski" -
Academia Nacional de Medicina
The Academia Nacional de Medicina (ANM) is the Brazilian national academy of medicine.
The academy was founded during the Brazilian imperial period on 30 June 1829, under the name of ''Sociedade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro''. On 8 May ...
- 1986
Selected publications
* PAVAN, C. and BREUER, M. E. 1952. Polytene chromosomes in different tissues of ''Rhynchosciara''. ''Journal of Heredity''. vol. 63, p. 151-157.
* PAVAN, C. 1967. Chromosomal changes induced by infective agents Triangle. ''Sandoz J. Med. Sci.'' vol. 8, p. 42-48.
* PAVAN, C., BIESELE, J., RIESS, R. W. and WERTZ, A. V. 1971. XIII. Changes in the ultrastructure of ''Rhynchosciara'' cells infected by ''Microsporidia''. ''Studies in Genetics''. vol. VI, p. 7103.
* PAVAN, C., DA CUNHA, A. B. and MORSOLETTO, C. 1971. Virus-chromosome relationships in cells of ''Rhynchosciara'' (''Diptera'', ''Sciaridae''). ''Caryologia''. vol. 24, p. 371-389.
* PAVAN, C. and SANDERS, P. F. 1972. Heterochromatin in development of normal and infected cells. ''In Cell Differentiation''. Munrsgaard- Copenhagen:.
* PAVAN, C. 1983. Karyotypes and possible regions of origin of three species of ''Calliphoridae'' (''Diptera'') recently introduced in Brazil. ''Revista Brasileira de Genética''. vol. 6, p. 619-638.
External links
Biography Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavan, Crodowaldo
1919 births
2009 deaths
Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Brazilian scientists
Brazilian geneticists
Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Recipients of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil)
Brazilian people of Italian descent
People from Campinas
Brazilian science writers
Brazilian educators
University of São Paulo alumni
Academic staff of the State University of Campinas