Aziz Nacib Ab'Sáber (; October 24, 1924 – March 16, 2012) was a geographer and one of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

's most respected scientists, honored with the highest awards of Brazilian science in

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. Graduated in geography, he was a president and honorary president of the Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science) and

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of the University of São Paulo. He received the Grand Cross in Earth Sciences of the National Order of Scientific Merit, the highest rank. Among the awards, he has received the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Prize on Science and the Environment in 2001 and the Prize to the Intellectual of Brazil in 2011. The contributions of Ab'Saber to science range from the first research of oil camps in Brazil's northeast to surveys of Brazil′s natural realms and the restoration of the history of forests, camps and primitive humans over geologic time in South America. He made central contributions to biology, South American archaeology, and to Brazilian ecology, geology and geography. He has published more than 480 works, most of them scientific publications. Among his scientific proposals are FLORAM, the Code of biodiversity and his theory of refuges related to the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. Ab'Sáber was the first person to classify scientifically the Brazilian and South-America territory in morphoclimatic domains. He also contributed to the "

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

refuge hypothesis", an attempt to explain the distribution of Neotropical taxa as a function of their isolation in

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

fragments during glacial periods, which allowed populations to speciate. He died in 2012 following a heart attack.

Selected publications

* Gautiere-Modenesi, May; Bartorelli, Andrea; Mantesso-Neto, Virginio; Carneiro, Celso Dal Ré; Lisboa, Matias. (org.), , São Paulo, BECA, 2010; 558 pp * Ab'Sáber, A. N. 1982. The paleoclimate and paleoecology of Brazilian Amazonia. In ''Biological Diversification in the Tropics''. New York:Columbia University Press. p. 41-59. * Ab'Sáber, A. N. 1983. . vol. 40, p. 41-55. * Ab'Sáber, A. N. 1986. . São Paulo:CNPq. p. 88-123. * Ab'Sáber, A. N. 1989. . vol. 5, p. 4-20. * Ab'Sáber, A. N. 1990. . vol. 5, p. 19-62. * Ab'Sáber, A. N. 1990. . vol. 4, p. 149-174. * Ab`Saber, A. N. Ecossistemas do Brasil. Metalivros, 2006.

References

External links

Brazilian Academy of Science – member – Aziz Nacib Ab'Saber

TV and radio interviews for Cultura network – ''cmais.com.br''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ab'saber, Aziz 1924 births 2012 deaths People from São Luiz do Paraitinga Brazilian people of Arab descent Brazilian geographers 20th-century Brazilian geologists Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Academic staff of the University of São Paulo University of São Paulo alumni