List of Brazilian scientists

This is a list of Brazilian scientists, those born in Brazil or who have established citizenship or residency there.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Main category: Brazilian scientists

• Manuel de Abreu (1894–1962), physician, inventor of abreugraphy (mass radiography of the lungs for screening tuberculosis)
• Aziz Ab'Saber (1924–2012), geographer; geologist; ecologist recognized for the Theory of Refuges and Amazon studies; former president of the SBPC
• Fernando Flávio Marques de Almeida (1916–2013), geologist
• Carlos Paz de Araújo, scientist and inventor, holds nearly 600 patents in the area of nanotechnology
• José Márcio Ayres (1954–2003), biologist, zoologist, primatologist
• Marcia Barbosa (born 1960), physicist
• Abrahão de Moraes (1916–1970), astronomer and mathematician
• Eddy Bensoussan (born 1938), physician
• Wilson Teixeira Beraldo (1917–1998), co-discoverer of bradykinin
• Thaisa Storchi Bergmann (born 1955), astrophysicist at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul^[1]
• Carlos Augusto Bertulani (born 1955), physicist
• Vital Brazil (1865–1950), physician and scientist, discoverer of the antivenom for snakes and other venomous animals
• Ennio Candotti (1942–2023), physicist and scientific leader
• Fernando Henrique Cardoso (born 1931), sociologist and former President
• José Cândido de Melo Carvalho (1914–1994), biologist, zoologist, entomologist
• Guilherme "Bill" Cardoso, Brazilian-American entrepreneur, engineer, and scientist.
• Carlos Chagas (1879–1934), biologist, zoologist, public health worker
• Evandro Chagas (1905–1940), physician and biomedical scientist specialized in tropical medicine; son of Carlos Chagas
• Gauss Moutinho Cordeiro (born 1952), mathematician and statistician
• Vera Cordeiro (born 1950), social entrepreneur and physician
• Newton da Costa (1929–2024), mathematician and logician, recognised for his works in paraconsistent logic
• Oswaldo Cruz (1872–1917), physician and public health champion, eliminated yellow fever, bubonic plague and smallpox in Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the 20th century
• Johanna Döbereiner (1924–2000), biologist, discoverer of the nitrogen fixing role of soil bacteria
• Adolpho Ducke (1876–1959), Croatian-Brazilian biologist; zoologist; entomologist; botanist
• Florestan Fernandes (1920–1995), father of Brazilian sociology
• Sérgio Henrique Ferreira (1934–2016), physician and pharmacologist, discovered the active principle of a drug for hypertension
• Carlos Chagas Filho (1910–2000), physician and physiologist, former president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, former president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; son of Carlos Chagas
• Hércules Florence (1804–1879), pioneer of photography
• Santiago Americano Freire (1908–1997), physician and professor of pharmacology, psychiatrist, writer, painter
• Gilberto Freyre (1900–1987), historiographer and sociologist
• Celso Furtado (1920–2004), noted economist and ideologue of economy of developing nations
• Marcelo Gleiser (born 1959), physicist, writer and professor of physics and astronomy at the Dartmouth College since 1991
• José Goldemberg (born 1928), physicist, former Minister of Science & Technology and Dean of the University of São Paulo
• Émil Göldi (1859–1917), Swiss-Brazilian biologist; zoologist; naturalist
• Bartolomeu de Gusmão (1685–1724), Brazilian Catholic priest, pioneer of aviation, the inventor of the balloon, became known as the "flying priest"
• Jacques Hüber (1867–1914), Swiss-Brazilian biologist; botanist
• Ivan Izquierdo (1937–2021), physician and neuroscientist; discovered neural mechanisms of memory
• Jean Paul Jacob (1937–2019), electronic engineer, researcher and professor, research manager at the Almaden IBM Research Center, California
• Adib Jatene (1929–2014), heart surgeon
• Alexander Kellner (born 1961), Liechtensteinian/Brazilian paleontologist
• Warwick Estevam Kerr (1922–2018), geneticist, researcher on the biology and genetics of bees
• Eduardo Krieger (born 1928), physician and physiologist, former president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
• César Lattes (1924–2005), experimental physicist, co-discoverer of the pion, a type of subatomic particle, first president of the Brazilian National Research Council
• Napoleão Laureano (1914–1951), cancer researcher
• Aristides Leão (1914–1993), physician and physiologist, discovered Leão's depression, a phenomenon of nervous tissue
• Ângelo Moreira da Costa Lima (1887–1964), doctor, entomologist
• Henrique da Rocha Lima (1879–1956), physician, pathologist and infectologist, discovered Rickettsia prowazekii, the pathogen of epidemic typhus
• José Leite Lopes (1918–2006), theoretical physicist
• Adolfo Lutz (1855–1940), physician and pioneer of public health
• José Lutzenberger (1926–2002), ecologist and zoologist
• Roberto Landell de Moura (1861–1928), pioneer of telephony
• Fritz Müller (1821–1897), German-Brazilian biologist; zoologist; botanist; naturalist; entomologist
• Miguel Nicolelis (born 1961), neuroscientist, one of Scientific American's best scientists of 2004
• Jacob Palis (1940–2025), mathematician of international fame, president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
• Maurício Peixoto (1921–2019), engineer, mathematician, pioneered the studies on structural stability, author of Peixoto's theorem
• Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna (1818–1888), biologist, zoologist, naturalist
• José Aristodemo Pinotti (1934–2009), physician and gynecologist, former president of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics
• Marcos Pontes (born 1963), first Brazilian astronaut, Missão Centenário
• Patricia Pranke (born 1967), stem cell researcher, professor
• Ana Maria Primavesi (1920–2020), soil scientist and promoter of the ecological management of tropical soils
• André Rebouças (1838–1898), pioneer engineer, brother of Antônio Rebouças Filho
• José Reis (1907–2002), biologist, greatest Brazilian science writer
• Gilberto Righi (1937–1999), biologist, zoologist, specialist on earthworms
• Carlos Rittl (living), scientist and environmentalist
• Milton Santos (1926–2001), geographer, won the Vautrin Lud International Geography Prize, the highest award that can be gained in the field of geography
• Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873–1932), aviator and inventor
• Ademar Agostinho Sauthier (1940), theologist
• Mário Schenberg (1914–1990), theoretical physicist
• Helmut Sick (1910–1991), German-Brazilian biologist; zoologist; ornithologist
• Lotar Siewerdt (born 1939), agronomist; forage production
• Manuel Augusto Pirajá da Silva (1873–1961), responsible for the identification and complete description of the pathogenic agent and the pathophysiological cycle of schistosomiasis disease
• Maurício Rocha e Silva (1910–1983), physician and pharmacologist, discovered bradykinin, an active cardiovascular peptide
• Emílio Joaquim da Silva Maia (1808–1859), physician and naturalist
• Nise da Silveira (1905–1999), psychiatrist and mental health reformer
• Jorge Stolfi (born 1950), computer scientist, professor at UNICAMP
• Jayme Tiomno (1920–2011), experimental and theoretical nuclear physicist
• Paulo Emílio Vanzolini (1924–2013), biologist, zoologist, herpetologist
• Glaci Zancan (1935–2007), biochemist^[2]
• Mayana Zatz (born 1947), biologist and geneticist
• Euryclides Zerbini (1912–1993), heart surgeon, pioneer of first heart transplant in Brazil

Foreign scientists and engineers who lived or live in Brazil

• Alexander Grothendieck (1928–2014), French mathematician
• David Bohm (1917–1992), American physicist
• Gregory Chaitin (born 1947), Argentine-American mathematician
• Louis Couty (1854–1884), French physiologist and pharmacologist
• Miguel Rolando Covian (1913–1992), Argentinian physiologist
• Orville Adalbert Derby (1851–1915), American geologist
• Heinz Ebert (1907–1983), German geologist
• Luigi Fantappiè (1901–1956), Italian mathematician
• Richard Feynman (1918–1988), American physicist
• Carlos Hamilton Vasconcelos Araújo (born 1964), economist and engineer
• Charles Frederick Hartt (1840–1878), Canadian-American geologist and paleontologist
• Hermann von Ihering (1850–1930), German naturalist
• Fritz Köberle (1910–1983), Austrian physician and pathologist
• Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff (1774–1852), German/Russian naturalist
• Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009), French anthropologist
• Emmanuel Liais (1826–1900), French astronomer and naturalist
• Lucien Lison (1908–1984), Belgian anatomist
• Fritz Müller (1821–1897), German naturalist
• Giuseppe Occhialini (1907–1993), Italian physicist
• Ludwig Riedel (1790–1861), German botanist
• Oscar Sala (1922–2010), Italian nuclear physicist
• Carl August Wilhelm Schwacke (1848–1904), German botanist
• Friedrich Sellow (1789–1831), German botanist
• Helmut Sick (1910–1991), German zoologist
• Peter Szatmari (born 1950), Hungarian geologist
• Gleb Wataghin (1899–1986), Russian/Italian physicist
• Stefan Zweig (1881–1942), Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer

See also

• Brazilian expatriate academics
• List of Brazilian mathematicians
• National Order of Scientific Merit
• List of Brazilian intellectuals and thinkers

References

1. "2015 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards". Archived from the original on 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2015-04-04.
2. "Glaci Zancan morre aos 72 anos". AGÊNCIA FAPESP. Retrieved 2016-05-09.

Further reading

• Notable Brazilian Scientists (in Portuguese)