Benício de Barros Neto nasceu em 01 de julho de 1953 na cidade de Macau (RN). Graduou-se em Engenharia Química pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (1975). Obteve seu doutorado em Físico-Química pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas (1980) sob a orientação do Prof. Roy Edward Bruns, na área de espectroscopia molecular. Durante o seu pós-doutorado em 1988, também supervisionado pelo Prof. Bruns, passou a dedicar-se à área de Quimiometria. Entrou na Universidade Federal de Pernambuco como professor em 1977 e foi um dos fundadores do Departamento de Química Fundamental. Era um exímio professor, pela didática e pelo cuidado com que preparava suas aulas. E era como professor que queria ser lembrado. Tornou-se uma referência nacional e internacional área de Quimiometria, tendo escrito o primeiro livro em português sobre o tema. Em 2008 foi agraciado pelo então presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva com a comenda da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico, na classe de comendador, por sua atuação em Ciências Químicas. Falecido recentemente, aos 57 anos de idade, deixa um importante legado para a ciência do país e a saudosa admiração de todos os seus ex-alunos e colegas.

Ricardo de Carvalho Ferreira was born on January 16th 1928 in the city of Recife, Brazil. He died on July 30th 2013 in this same city. He was a physical chemist who pioneered the fields of theoretical chemistry and biophysics in Brazil. Ricardo was an innate scientist who showed a strong inclination towards physics and chemistry at an early age. However, graduate programs were rare in Brazil and would only be institutionalized in the 60s. In spite of the reduced number of Brazilian institutions harboring scientific research, Ricardo published his first scientific contribution when he was 19 years old [1]. At 25 years old, he submitted a contribution to Nature entitled Resolution of Racemic Mixtures by Symmetrical Agents which was published in the same volume reporting the discovery of the structure of the DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick [2]. More than 130 peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters followed these first reports. Among them, what is believed to be the first theoretical chemistry publication fully thought and conducted in Latin America [3]. The post-doctoral years at CALTECH (1959-1960) in contact with Linus Pauling and Norman Davidson allowed Ricardo to expand his interests onto theoretical biophysics and biology. In Brazil Ricardo would introduce the use of quantum chemistry to investigate biomolecular systems with emphasis in proteins involved in molecular diseases such as hemoglobin.Ricardo contributed to Brazilian science far beyond his publication record. He helped to shape important scientific societies as the Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (SBPC) and the Sociedade Brasileira de Química (SBQ) both of which he presided over upon election. He was involved in the commission for the creation of the University of Brasilia and funded the Department of Fundamental Chemistry of the Federal University of Pernambuco where he remained as Emeritus Professor until his death. Ricardo was associated with several research and teaching institutions in Brazil and abroad: the California Institute of Technology, Indiana University, Columbia University and Earlham College in the United States, l'Université de Genève and the Oxford University in Europe and the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Federal de São Carlos and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Brazil. He was awarded with a number of honors, in special the Grã-Cruz da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico, from the Brazilian Presidency (1995), Almirante Alvaro Alberto Price from CNPq (1996), Medalha Simão Mathias from the Brazilian Chemical Society (1997), Emeritus Researcher of the Brazilian Center of Physical Research (CBPF) (1999) and Emeritus Professor of the Federal Universities of Pernambuco, UFPE (2001) and Alagoas, UFAL (1979). As a last tribute, the asteroid 158520 discovered by the amateur astronomers Paulo Holvocem and Charles Juels was named after him. It is remarkable that among these distinguished honors, the one most cherished by Ricardo was an annual scholarship named after him to support chemistry undergraduate students enrolled at Earlham College, USA. The “Ferreira Scholarship” is funded by a generous donation of a former student tutored by Ricardo many decades ago.Ricardo had a life-lasting impact on his students and colleagues. He influenced two generations of Brazilian physicists, chemists and biologists. The eminent Brazilian physicist Constantino Tsallis wrote [4]: “I have met, during my life, only two people to whom I would immediately and heartily reserve the title of natural philosopher – a title which in my personal conception designates the supreme form of science, the one that was practiced by Aristotle. They are Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel laureate in Physics, and Ricardo Ferreira.” Ricardo was all this, and above all a humanist. Brazilian science has lost one of his most inspiring scientists.

 

_____________________