Brazil celebrates National Physicist Day

On this date- the anniversary of the publication in 1905 of Albert Einstein’s seminal works that forever changed the way we study light, matter, time and space - Brazil celebrates National Physicist day and the notable achievements of our own physicists.

Home to great physicists such as César Lattes, José Leite Lopes, Mario Shemberg, Jayme Tiomno, Marcelo Damy and Moysés Nussenzveig (a great scientist who influenced generations of Brazilian physicists with his iconic writings), Brazil is also a center of research excellence.

Nationally, Physics research is centered in large universities in São Paulo (USP, UNESP, UNICAMP), Rio (UFRJ), Minas Gerais (UFMG), Pernambuco (UFPE) and Rio Grande do Sul (UFRS), among others; Another being the Brazilian Center for Physics Research (CBPF), a point of national pride.

Centers under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, such as the National Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), National Laboratory of Scientific Computing (LNCC), and the Institute of Cosmology, Relativity and Astrophysics, have their origins in the CBPF. That is also the case with the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), which houses SIRIUS: the largest and most complex scientific infrastructure built in Brazil and one of the most advanced synchrotron light sources in the world.

After signing an agreement with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Brazil became the third non-European country to be part of this selective group of 30 members. Notably, its membership serves as recognition of the country’s excellence in science. The Brazilian government has also extended its participation in the Gemini Observatory. Brazil is the country with the highest rate of scientific publication and training of new astronomers and technicians specialized in astronomical instrumentation of the Consortium. Brazil also completed the Alcântara Space Center Technology Safeguards Agreement, which provides launch capability to foreign companies - an addition to our Space Program that may result in a net gain of US$10 billion annually.

The Brazilian government has increased the number of scholarships for master’s and PhD students by 5% in the last three years. Through CAPES, a Brazilian governmental institution that promotes the training of academic researchers, Brazil will provide 84,300 scholarships in 2022.

The Brazilian government, through the university scholarship program PROUNI, made available the highest number of offers ever at the beginning of 2022, totaling 273,001 scholarships. More than 1,000 undergraduate institutions in Brazil have joined the program. Facing the problem of student loans, which afflicts undergraduate students around the world, the Brazilian government granted 86.5% debt forgiveness to more than 1 million students. The total may reach 92% for socially vulnerable students.