Brazilian engineer born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, creator of the first postgraduate course in chemical engineering in Brazil (1963) and founder of the Coordination of Graduate Engineering Programs, Coppe (1967), at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The son of a merchant and representative of American firms in Brazil, he attended primary school at Colégio Pitangas, secondary school at Anglo Americano and scientific at Colégio Universitário and Andrews. He entered the industrial chemistry course at the Escola Nacional de Química, at the former University of Brazil (1943).
He graduated (1946) and worked on the Executive Committee for Cassava Products, where he developed a survey on the dosage of alcohol produced by cassava. Deciding to study chemical engineering, he won a scholarship and went to Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, in the south of the United States (1947), with the aim of graduating and obtaining a master's degree in chemical engineering (1949). Obstinate and involved with the reformulation of graduate courses in engineering, he returned to the United States (1961) to analyze the courses of the major institutions in that country and thanks to their efforts, postgraduate studies in chemical engineering began (1963) in the Chemical Engineering Division of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Brazil, with three Brazilian professors and an American paid by the OAS, Donald Katz, from the University of Michigan, and eight students.
With the postgraduate course in chemical engineering inaugurated (1963), the idea arose to create the Coordination of Graduate Programs in Engineering, Coppe. Then came the program of mechanical engineering (1965), metallurgical and electrical (1966), civil (1967) production and shipbuilding (1968) and so on. The existence of Coppe enabled the opening of new postgraduate courses in engineering in Brazil. For example, Heitor Herrera led the installation of a postgraduate course in mechanical engineering at PUC/RJ (1966). Gaspar Erich Stemmer created a postgraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (1968) and Lynaldo Cavalcanti de Albuquerque created, at the Federal University of Paraíba, postgraduate courses in electrical and civil engineering (1969).
The movement grew and today several Brazilian universities have postgraduate courses, also in other areas. Away from the university and from Coppe by the University Council (1973), he started to dedicate himself to the Financier of Studies and Projects, Finep. He returned to Coppe (1984), where he currently works as an emeritus professor. Associate Professor at UFRJ (1953), he is D. Hon. Cause by UFPe (1969) and by UFSC (1979) and Prof. Emeritus of UFRJ (1993), among other honors, holds the Grand Cross (1994) of the National Order of Scientific Merit.
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order A - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/alberto-luiz-galvao-coimbra.htm