Ricardo Galvão

Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão (born 21 December 1947) is a prominent Brazilian physicist and engineer, formerly the Director-General of the National Institute for Space Research.

Ricardo Galvão

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• "...My time as director of INPE was extremely important to me, including for increasing my own knowledge about other areas of science.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• The Bolsonaro government had no idea what its attack on INPE data would mean in the international context.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• ...I said that INPE was a highly respected institution, that I had a name as a scientist and there was no way I was going let that go.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• ...Outside Brazil, INPE’s reputation for excellence is well established.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• ...To say to a scientist that your data is lying could mean the end of a career. And the data weren’t mine, but from my colleagues at INPE.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• Principalmente quando ele tem essas entrevistas com a imprensa ou mesmo em outras manifestações, ele tem um comportamento como se estivesse em botequim. [...] Ou seja, ele fez acusações indevidas a pessoas do mais alto nível da ciência brasileira, não estou dizendo só eu, mas muitas outras pessoa... Isso é uma piada de um garoto de 14 anos que não cabe a um presidente da república fazer.

• • Especially when he has these interviews with the press or even in other manifestations, he has a behavior as if he were in a bar. [...] That is, he made improper accusations to people of the highest level of Brazilian science, I am not just saying me, but many other people... This is a joke of a 14-year-old boy that does not belong to a president of the republic.

-Ricardo Galvão about the attacks from Jair Bolsonaro. G1: Diretor do Inpe nega acusações de Bolsonaro, reafirma dados sobre desmatamento e diz que não deixará cargo

• Qualquer dirigente de um país tem que entender que, quando se trata de questões científicas, não existe autoridade acima da soberania da ciência. Nem militar, nem política, nem religiosa. [...] Desrespeitoso foi o presidente da República com a ciência brasileira. Ele falou categoricamente que os dados do Inpe são mentirosos. Ele está acusando todos os cientistas do Inpe de terem cometido crime de falsidade ideológica.

• • Any leader of a country has to understand that, when it comes to scientific issues, there is no authority above the sovereignty of science. Neither military, nor political, nor religious. [...] The President of the Republic was disrespectful to Brazilian science. He spoke categorically that the data from INPE are lies. He is accusing all the INPE scientists of having committed a crime of ideological falsehood.

- Ricardo Galvão, former director from INPE, to the Minister of Environment, Ricardo Salles. G1: Nós usamos publicação científica, não balela, diz ex-diretor do Inpe a ministro do Meio Ambiente.

• Aquilo foi um soco direto na minha alma de cientista.

• • That was a direct punch to my scientist soul.

-Revista Trip: Ricardo Galvão: meio ambiente, ciência e censura

• ...I believed that I had two options. I could do nothing and write to Minister Pontes to give an explanation to the president. Or I could react.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• ... I said that the president had adopted a weak, cowardly attitude by making a public accusation about a subject he has no qualifications to evaluate.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• I defended the INPE work. I knew that I would definitely be fired. But it was a successful strategy. INPE received so much media exposure that it was in an almost unassailable position.

- Revista FAPESP: Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão: The physicist who would not bend CC-BY-NC-ND

• Those plans were also destroyed by the missiles of this war...

- Ricardo Galvão on the halting of nuclear fusion research with Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. Nature: The countries maintaining research ties with Russia despite Ukraine

• Mas essa foi uma decisão que tomei porque eu sentia o meu dever de voltar para o Brasil para ajudar a ciência brasileira a crescer.

• • But this was a decision I took because I felt it was my duty to return to Brazil to help Brazilian science grow.

-Ricardo Galvão on having turned down posts abroad. Revista Trip: Ricardo Galvão: meio ambiente, ciência e censura

• ...Então não seria o ataque de um presidente tosco e completamente ignorante que iria me fazer desistir de uma decisão de vida que eu tomei há tantos anos.

• • ...So it wouldn't be the attack of a blunt and completely ignorant president that would make me give up on a life decision I made so many years ago.

-Ricardo Gavão on not going to work abroad. Revista Trip: Ricardo Galvão: meio ambiente, ciência e censura

• Essa atração pela exploração, pelo desconhecido, para grandes viagens, grandes conquistas, sempre existiu no espírito humano, mesmo em condições muito toscas, ... muito atrasadas.

• • This attraction to exploration, to the unknown, to great journeys, great conquests, has always existed in the human spirit, even in very crude conditions, .... very backward conditions.

-Revista Trip: Ricardo Galvão: meio ambiente, ciência e censura

• Devemos sempre lutar contra os assaltos e os ataques à ciência, independentemente da nossa ideologia partidária ou política.

• • We must always fight against assaults and attacks on science, regardless of our party or political ideology.

- Ricardo Galvão. “Sempre que a ciência for atacada, temos que nos levantar”

• A ciência sempre sofreu pressão de poderosos e seus resultados incomodam bastante; e as vezes em que os cientistas recuaram, não foi bom para a humanidade.

• • Science has always suffered pressure from the powerful and its results are very disturbing; and the times when scientists have backed down, it has not been good for humanity.

- Ricardo Galvão. “Sempre que a ciência for atacada, temos que nos levantar”

• “The leader of any country should be aware that in scientific matters there is no authority above the sovereignty of science.”

-Ricardo Galvão. Showstack, R. (2019-08-20). Ousted Head of Science Agency Criticizes Brazil’s Denial of Deforestation Data. doi:10.1029/2019EO131399. 

• “Not only as a scientist but as a citizen of Brazil, I’m very concerned about the increasing rate of deforestation in the Amazon.”

-Ricardo Galvão. Showstack, R. (2019-08-20). Ousted Head of Science Agency Criticizes Brazil’s Denial of Deforestation Data. doi:10.1029/2019EO131399.