Ricardo Galvão is announced president of CNPq and defends investments in science

Researcher Ricardo Galvão, professor of Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP), will be the new president of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). At a ceremony in the auditorium of the body responsible for promoting scientific research in Brazil, Galvão gave an emotional speech and said that “science flew over the cataclysm of a denialist government”.

“I have 51 years of public service. Public servants are accused of doing nothing and producing nothing. You were the support against the government that left the country”, he said, during a ceremony that was attended by the Minister of Science , Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos.

Galvão returns to the federal government after being exonerated as director of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) in 2019. He entered into a clash with then-President Jair Bolsonaro over deforestation data in the Amazon.

Galvão’s attitude of drawing attention to the rise in deforestation alerts registered by the institute – a 40% increase over the course of a year – was heavily criticized by the former president. Bolsonaro even told foreign journalists that INPE’s data were “lies” and insinuated that Galvão was “at the service of some NGO”.

“A little over two months ago we defeated the truculence that existed in our country. This ceremony is proof that science survived the cataclysm of a denialist government. Now we will return to investments in science and that involves strengthening the CNPq”, he said. Galvao.