University and the conservative modernization in Bahia

Edgard Santos, scientific institutes and Petrobras

Abstract

Some Historians presents Edgard Santos, Rector of University of Bahia (1946-1960), as a hero of modernity and progress, sponsor of the arts and humanities. This paper shows him as an inheritor of a traditional aristocratic family, educated in the context of the oligarchical conflicts of the First Republica, leader and as the best player of political games of the period. Under his administration, the University played a important role in politics, economics, artistical and scientifics movements on Bahia’s landscape: conservative modernization. Particularly, his alliance with a young professor of the Faculty of Philosophy produced the Institut of Mathematics and Physics, a project that articulated his own politicalacademical interests, local and national scientific interests, and federal government administrative interests. But when his rector’s candidature lost the run in 1960 and his opponents became winners, University contributions for conservative modernization continued. The institutionalization of geophysical project at the Institute of Mathematics and Physics brought a contract with Petrobras for training specialized human resources and developing scientific and technological research.