Brazilian physicist born in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, pioneer in nuclear physics in Brazil and participated in the creation and directed the Radioactive Research Institute, the IPR, of the School of Engineering at UFMG, and was also an important player in the success of the physics course at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute of Exact Sciences, Icex, from the same University. Son of a doctor, a very educated man but with few financial resources and father of ten more children. His interest in physics came from his father's encouragement and when he was still attending high school at the former Ginásio Mineiro in Belo Horizonte, through the classes taught by Professor Virgínio Behring. Later, at the Escola de Minas de Ouro Preto, he also distinguished himself in physics and graduated in Civil and Mining Engineering. He also stood out in his teaching career for his studies in the area of history of science.
After graduating (1928), he worked as an employee of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte and taught physics at the annex of the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Minas Gerais for ten years until take his first competition for the chairs of general and experimental physics (1938) for the School of Engineering of Minas Gerais and in the same year for the School of Mines of Ouro Preto, passing in the two. At the School of Engineering he began to develop his studies on radioactivity, becoming known as a one of the pioneers in research on nuclear energy in the country and at that time he gained the nickname by which he became known. Due to this performance, he was invited to assume the position of director of the recently-founded Institute for Radioactive Research at UFMG, currently the Center for Development of Nuclear Technology, the CDTN, an institution created (1953) and which would become one of the most important in Brazil within the scope of nuclear research.
He was appointed to the National Nuclear Energy Commission (1962) by President João Goulart, but requested his resignation (1964) during the Castelo Branco government for disagreeing with the directions given to nuclear policy and for the political persecution practiced against some scientists Brazilians. He was also one of the organizers and the first director of the Institute of Exact Sciences at UFMG (1968-1972). In the early 1980s, he was invited by Pope John Paul II to join a commission to review the Catholic Church's case against Galileo. Hence his well-known studies on the scientist. He believed that Galileo was not properly valued for his contribution to science.
In addition to numerous scientific articles, he published two books: “History of the steel industry in Brazil” and “Electricity in Brazil”. In the early 1980s, he was invited Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Minas Gerais Academy of Letras, his 3rd successor in chair No. 05, continued working on his projects until he died, in Belo Horizon. In his honor, the government of Minas, through the State Department of Science and Technology, created the Francisco de Assis Magalhães Gomes (1997), which aims to reward those who have significantly contributed to the dissemination of Science and Technology in Minas Gerais General. Despite the nickname, he claimed to be the number one enemy of the atomic bomb and defended until the day of his death the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order F - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/francisco-de-assis-magalhaes-gomes.htm
