Brazil 2000: 500^th Anniversary -

Celebration at Fermilab

Moacyr Souza, Guilherme Cardoso, Fernanda G. Garcia, Carmem da Silva, Sérgio Zimmermann, Ricardo F. Barbosa, J. Rafael Silva and Moysés Kuchnir (back row, from left), Luciano Piccoli, Eduardo Gregores and Sérgio Novaes, (front row, from left). Several collaborators were unable to attend the photo session on October 23^rd, 2000, including Monique Srivastava – she was giving birth to her daughter, Sofia.

From Brazil to Fermilab

Particle physics has played a very important role in the development of Brazilian science. Already in the 1930’s, physicists Wathagin, Pompeia and Damy de Souza Santos carried out some pioneering work at the University of Sao Paulo. They identified characteristic features of cosmic rays created by particles entering the earth’s atmosphere.

In 1947, Lattes and Occhialini took part in Powell’s Nobel Prize winning experiments in the Bolivian Andes, where they used photographic plates to study the processes leading to the production of secondary particles in cosmic rays. They discovered the pion, an instable particle that is seven times lighter than a proton. Today we know that the pion is Nature’s lightest quark-antiquark combination.

Cesar Lattes returned to Brazil and, in 1949, founded the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), a research center devoted to both experimental and theoretical physics. He continued his research in particle physics at the Chacaltaya peak in Bolivia, using nuclear emulsions to record and analyze tracks of cosmic particles.

In 1983, Brazilian physicists organized a conference to discuss the possibility of joining international research collaborations that worked on the best particle experiments at the high-energy frontier. Former Fermilab Director Leon Lederman, who attended the conference, offered his support and helped to establish a Brazilian participation at Fermilab. Soon the first Brazilians, five physicists and one engineer, traveled to Fermilab.

Since then Brazilians have joined and carried out a variety of experiments using both colliding beams and fixed-target setups. They are involved in data analysis, software and hardware development, detector design and production of detector components. Graduate students receive training both at their home universities and at Fermilab, seizing the opportunity to get involved in experimental high-energy physics.

Facts about Brazil

Leading a Portuguese expedition, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil on April 22, 1500. The country’s name originated from the Portuguese term used for red wood, the most exploited item when Portugal claimed Brazil as one of its colonies.

Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world (3.3 million square miles), larger than the continental USA. Today, about 180 million people, composed of a variety of peoples and races from all over the world, live in Brazil, greatly influencing its culture and diversity. It has the world’s second largest population of African ancestry, behind Nigeria. Except for some native tribes living in remote areas, all people speak Portuguese.

The Amazon rainforest, encompassing the world’s largest river in volume of water, covers nearly half of the country’s territory. Other landscapes feature wetlands, semideserts and coastal beaches. Brazil is home to the largest number of plants and animals on earth.

The Brazilian economy is among the ten largest in the world. Agriculture plays a major role (soybeans, coffee, oranges), but a third of the country’s economy already comes from the industrial sector. The top two export products are soybeans and airplanes.

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