A Unesco e a ciência no Brasil
experiências de cooperação em instituições científicas no Rio de Janeiro
Keywords:
foreign affairs, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia (INT), history of science – Brazil, UNESCO (Agência Intergovernamental da ONU para Educação, Ciência e Cultura), Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF)Abstract
This study examines the scientific cooperation between Unesco and Brazil between 1951 and 1954. Unesco’s support for Brazilian institutions was made possible by an Agreement of Technical Assistance signed with the Brazilian government. The Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia (INT) and the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF), leading institutions in physics research, were selected from among the Brazilian scientific institutions which benefited from this agreement. Examining Unesco’s activity allows us to draw considerations on the post-war scenario, which was marked externally by the Cold War and internally by Vargas’ second term in office. The Agreements of Assistance aimed first and foremost at contributing to narrowing the gap between the so-called central and peripheral countries, but they were faced with national and international obstacles when implemented at these Brazilian scientific institutions. The main sources of information for this study were official letters sent by the Brazilian delegation at Unesco to the Ministério das Relações Exteriores and documents from the Instituto Brasileiro para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura, located in the same building as the Arquivo Histórico do Itamaraty, in Rio de Janeiro.
