César lattes, josé leite lopes and the scientific nationalism in Brazil in the 1940S

Abstract

We analyze the ideas of a group of physicists gathered around César Lattes, which had in the proposals of José Leite Lopes the core of a conception that understood science as the base of a national developmentalist project. At the same time Leite Lopes publicly spoke about the responsibility of the scientists regarding the problems of the country, the group was privately formulating strategies to expand the number of research and teaching centers in Brazil. Analyzing letters, speeches and interviews of these physicists, it is possible to observe a sense of belonging to the Brazilian society mediated by science, which stimulated the emergence of a national scientific identity, culminating in the creation of the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF), in 1949, and of the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (CNPq), in 1951. We suggest the use of the "scientific nationalism" category as the interpretative key of the manifestation and awareness of this feeling, which led the historical actors to act on the reality to institutionalize the practice of physics through CBPF, linked to the concept of science as a State issue through CNPq.