Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (Portuguese for ''Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science'') is a Brazilian

scientific society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...

created in 1948 by several prominent scientists, with the aim of promoting

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

in the country by means of publications, conferences and political actions on behalf of science's advancement and progress. It was formed in the same spirit of two venerable institutions in the English-speaking world, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (founded 1831) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, founded 1848). The first president was Prof. Jorge Americano, and among the founders there were important scientific personalities of the country, such as Paulo Sawaya, José Reis,

Maurício Rocha e Silva Maurício Oscar da Rocha e Silva (19 September 1910, Rio de Janeiro – 19 December 1983, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and pharmacologist. He discovered bradykinin, an endogenous polypeptide involved ...

, Gastão Rosenfeld and José Ribeiro do Vale, Otto Guilherme Bier, Henrique da Rocha Lima, Alberto Carvalho da Silva, Helena Nader and others. The Society has individual members as well as other Brazilian scientific societies and associations which can become affiliate to SBPC. The current president is Dr. Ennio Candotti, a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. Honour presidents are

Aziz Ab'Sáber Aziz Nacib Ab'Sáber (; October 24, 1924 – March 16, 2012) was a geographer and one of Brazil's most respected scientists, honored with the highest awards of Brazilian science in geography, geology, ecology and archaeology. Graduated in ge ...

Crodowaldo Pavan Crodowaldo Pavan (; December 1, 1919 – April 3, 2009) was a Brazilian biologist and geneticist, and a scientific leader in Brazil. Early life Pavan was born to a family of second-generation immigrants from Italy in 1919, in the city of Campi ...

, José Goldemberg,

José Leite Lopes José Leite Lopes (October 28, 1918 – June 12, 2006) was a Brazilian theoretical physicist who worked in the field of quantum field theory and particle physics. Life Leite Lopes began his university studies in 1935, enrolling in industrial che ...

, Oscar Sala, Ricardo de Carvalho Ferreira, Sérgio Henrique Ferreira and

Warwick Estevam Kerr Warwick Estevam Kerr (9 September 1922 – 15 September 2018) was a Brazilian agricultural engineer, geneticist, entomologist, professor and scientific leader, notable for his discoveries in the genetics and sex determination of bees. The Africa ...

. SBPC's first flagship publication was ''

Ciência e Cultura ''Ciência e Cultura'' is a science magazine published by the ''Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science'' (Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência, SBPC). The magazine is published three times a year. History The magazine was ...

'' (Science and Culture), started in 1951 under the editorship of Dr. José Reis, a respected biomedical scientist and the dean of popularization of science in Brazil (there is a National Award conceded by the National Council for Research and Technological Development to the best science writers and projects on

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. ...

named after him). The journal's ambition was to be like ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'', AAAS' scientific publication. The greatest endeavour of SBPC has been the organization of yearly scientific conferences at national and regional level, since its year of birth, and without interruption. In the 1970s, during the oppression of civil liberties by the military regime, these conferences became an important public forum for discussion of issues on political freedom, since they were more or less left alone by the military repression apparatus, which acted hugely and mercilessly against mass media communication, student, workers and political organizations. The first conference was held in

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 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 Ga ...

, in 1949 and had 104 participants. In the next meetings, in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

(1950) and Belo Horizonte (1951), increasing participation and enthusiasm followed, with 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 ...

first involvement, as well as of other scientific societies. Another significant publications are ''Jornal da Ciência'' (Science Newspaper), a daily news email service, site and printed publication; and '' ComCiência'', an on-line scientific journalism review, edited by the Laboratory of Advanced Studies of Journalism (Labjor) of the

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 ...

. SBPC has spawned a number of initiatives with the objective of popularizing science and serving

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), som ...

. One of them is the ''Instituto Ciência Hoje'' (Science Today Institute), a not-for-profit non-governmental organization of public interest. ICH publishes ''Ciência Hoje'' magazine since 1982, ''Ciência Hoje das Crianças'' (Children's Science Today) since 1986, and a series of complementary didactic books for schools titled ''Ciência Hoje na Escola'' (Science Today at the School) since 1996. Since 1997, the Institute also maintains an Internet site, "Ciência Hoje On-line".

Bibliography

* Fernandes, A.M. A construção da ciência no Brasil e a SBPC: Editora da UnB/CNPq/ANPOCS., Brasília, 1990. (In Portuguese)

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

)
''Ciência Hoje On-Line''
A Web site devoted to the popularization of science.
''Ciência Hoje para Crianças''
a magazine with science subjects for school-age children and adolescents.

Bibliography

External links

See also