Producing (dis)interested science: construction and dissemination of the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Philosophy, sciences and letters of the University of São Paulo's mythical mission, and the formation of a scientific elite (1934-1968)

Abstract

The foundation of the University of São Paulo and more specifically its Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters (FFCL) in 1934, represented the materialization of part of the "Grupo do Estado" political-power project, composed by journalists, politicians and intellectuals who were around the newspaper "O Estado de S. Paulo". The Italian-Russian physicist Gleb Wataghin came to Brazil with the Italian Mission to work in the organization of FFCL physics area and in the shaping of the first generations of Brazilian physicists. In 1942, during World War II, the Italian Mission was obliged to return to Italy, for Brazil had broken diplomatic relations with Italy, with the exception of Wataghin which was allowed to stay. At the same time, the University of São Paulo created the University's Research Fund for National Defense (FUPDN) to finance scientific research aimed mainly at supporting the United States during the war. The objective of this doctoral stage at the Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris Rive Gauche (IMJ-PRG), from June 2018 to May 2019, under David Aubin's supervision, is the theoretical and methodological deepening of this scientific policy. Specifically, we intend to understand how FUPDN participated in the constitution of the FFCL Department of Physics, what activities were funded, who worked with the war research, how Wataghin participated in this movement and what advantage he may have received, within a transnational perspective of studying science. During the internship, the doctoral student will do a documentary research at the Occhialini-Dilworth Archives in Milan, will participate in the seminars of Aubin's research group, as well as other seminars in Paris, the IMJ-PGR 2018 summer school, scientific congresses and Aubin's history of sciences courses in the fall semester of 2018. (AU)