EDITORIAL
Tribute of the SBQ and the JBCS to Professor Fernando Galembeck on his 70th birthday
As part of the honors that the Brazilian Chemical Society, SBQ, is paying to Professor Fernando Galembeck, on his 70th birthday, for his significant contribution to chemistry and to the SBQ, its Directory and Advisory Board, together with the Editors of the Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (JBCS), decided to publish this JBCS Special Issue dedicated to Professor Galembeck.
To reach 70, in full activity, respected by the academic, scientific and business communities in Brazil and abroad, as well as by the governmental agencies, as Professor Fernando Galembeck has done, is an achievement few Brazilian scientists have got to.
Graduated (1964) and PhD (1970) in chemistry from the University of São Paulo (USP), Fernando Galembeck got his postdoctoral degree from the Universities of Colorado (1972-3) and California (Davis, 1974). Professor at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) until his retirement, he was in charge of the subjects: Colloids and Surfaces, Polymers, Applied Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, General Chemistry and Microscopy. His research activities started with Ney Galvão da Silva, at Laborterápica-Bristol, with Eline Prado, at Escola Paulista de Medicina, and with Simão Mathias, at USP, where he got his Doctorate under the guidance of the Polish Professor and Researcher Pawel Krumholz, one of the owners and industrial director of Orquima, an innovative company in the chemical area in the years 1940-1960.
After his doctorate, Professor Galembeck started new lines of research, including Biophysical-Chemistry, Colloids and Surfaces. In 1978, he published his first work on nanoparticles. His research group is a world reference in analytic microscopy. His most recent works deal with problems related to polymer surfaces, adhesion and wettability, interactions between colloidal and nanoparticles, formation and properties of nanocomposites, properties of non-crystalline solids and mechanisms of insulator electrification. With important methodological contributions in membrane-based separation techniques, in analytical, electronic and probe microscopies and in the mapping of electric charges on insulators, several of the former Galembeck's collaborators are distinguished professors in Brazilian universities or researchers in industrial companies. Among the theses he guided, one received the Carl Marvel Award and another, the CAPES Award.
Professor Galembeck deposited 18 patents, out of which seven were licensed. Three products based on those patents were launched on the market and several of his projects with companies deal mainly with the creation and development of new advanced materials and with manufacturing processes.
Professor Fernando Galembeck has served as Vice President and President of the SBQ, Coordinator General (Vice Rector) of UNICAMP, Secretary-General of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), Director of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) and, on several occasions, a member of the Advisory Board of the SBQ. In addition, he has performed leading, advisory and planning functions for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, for the Brazilian Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Higher Education (CAPES), for the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), as well as been a consultant for a number of companies. Moreover, he has participated in the design, development and implementation of the Support Program for Scientific and Technological Development (PADCT) as the coordinator of the chemistry and chemical engineering group and then as a member of the Steering Committee, the program that revolutionized the area of chemistry in Brazil.
Among the numerous awards he has received, stand out: the Golden Retort from the Union of Chemical Industries (SIQUIRJ); Fritz Feigl, from the Regional Chemical Counsel (CRQ-4); Union Carbide; Rhone-Poulenc; the Innovation, from the Brazilian Chemical Association (Abiquim); Eloisa Mano, from the Brazilian Polymer Association (ABPol); Pelúcio Ferreira, from the Research and Project Financing Agency (FINEP); Anísio Teixeira from CAPES; the Presidential Award of the Electrostatic Society of America; the Álvaro Alberto Prize of Science and Technology, from the National Counsel for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) and the Wessel Foundation(the highest Brazilian award of science and technology), and the Simão Mathias and Innovation Awards, from the SBQ. The latter was created in 2006 and named "Fernando Galembeck SBQ Innovation Prize" (Fernando was the first one to receive it), in recognition of his performance in the Brazilian science and technology and to pay tribute to the competence and the innovative capacity of the recipients.
Elected a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2010, Fernando Galembeck received the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (2000) and is now the Director of the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (LNNano).
Congratulations, Professor Fernando Galembeck, on your 70 years and on everything you have done for Chemistry in Brazil.
Aldo J. G. Zarbin, UFPR
Angelo C. Pinto, UFRJ
Jailson B. de Andrade, UFBA
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
20 May 2013 -
Date of issue
Feb 2013
