Romeu Beltrão (1913–1977), was a Brazilian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

. He was born and died in Santa Maria,

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

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 ...

.Biografia de Romeu Beltrão.
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Biography

In 1920, at the age of seven, Beltrão entered the gymnasium (

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

) at the College of Santa Maria. At fifteen, went to study at the

Medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

School of

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

. After graduating in medicine in December 1934, he returned home to Santa Maria. But by February 1935, he had moved to São Pedro do Sul, to practice medicine. While there he courted and married his wife, Nilza Niederauer Alvares, as well as writing opinion pieces for the local newspaper. But he missed the intellectual and cultural life of Santa Maria, so in 1937 he again returned home, where he devoted himself to medicine and teaching. In 1938 he became a Professor of

Pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at the

Universidade Federal de Santa Maria The Federal University of Santa Maria (, UFSM) is a Brazilian public university located in Santa Maria (RS), Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, funded by the federal government of Brazil. It was founded in 1960, by Professor José ...

. Beltrão was strongly influenced by

Llewellyn Ivor Price Llewellyn Ivor Price (October 9, 1905 – June 9, 1980) was one of the first Brazilian paleontologists. His work contributed not only to the development of Brazilian but also to global paleontology. He collected ''Staurikosaurus'' in 1936, th ...

, and he undertook an intense survey of the

paleontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

finds from in and around Santa Maria. By 1951, he himself was actively engaged in paleontological excavations in the region. And in 1958, he published the book ''Cronologia Histórica de Santa Maria e do extinto município de São Martinho'' which included the history of

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

in the Paleorrota area from 1787 to 1930. He abandoned his planned second volume which would have brought the history up to about 1960, and instead published his translation of Friedrich von Huene's paleontological work about Santa Maria, as well as a biography of Colonel

João Niederauer Sobrinho João Niederauer Sobrinho (1827-1868) was a German-Brazilian Colonel of the Platine War and the Paraguayan War. He was notable for his service in the Pikysyry campaign, having a previous origin as a notable citizen from Santa Maria, Rio Grande d ...

(1827–1868) a hero of the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

. He continued to write for the local newspaper and compiled a geographical dictionary of the Santa Maria municipality, which was never published.

Honors

A residential street in

Canoas Canoas () is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, forming part of the Greater Porto Alegre area. It is the largest municipality of the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre and the third largest municipality of Rio Grande do ...

was named "Rua Romeu Beltrão" in his honor."Mapa de Canoas: Romeu Beltrão"
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Biography

Honors

Notes

Further reading