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. He is a full Professor of the Institute of Physics of the University of São Paulo, member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, fellow of the Institute of Physics and councilman of the European Physical Society. Galvão has occupied major positions within the Brazilian Physics community such as the presidency of the Brazilian Physical Society (2013–2016) and the directorship of the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (2004–2011). Galvão's research is  primarily devoted to plasma physics and thermonuclear magnetic fusion. He served as a board member for Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion (1995–2005) and headed the Plasma Physics Laboratory of the University of São Paulo (2000–2016), where he oversaw the operation of the TCABR tokamak. In August 2019, he was removed from his position as Director-General of the National Institute for Space Research, after a public disagreement with President Jair Bolsonaro over scientific data that showed a significant increase in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest since the latter took office. Biography. Ricardo Galvão has received the titles of telecommunications engineer  (Fluminense Federal University, 1969), master of sciences (University of Campinas, 1972) and PhD (MIT, 1976). He has been an assistant professor at University of Campinas from 1971 to 1982, adjoint professor at the University of São Paulo from 1983 to 1991, and a full professor from 1991 on at the University of São Paulo. Also, he has been a researcher at Centro Técnico Aeroespacial from 1982 to 1986. Professor Galvão has received the following prizes: Friction with Jair Bolsonaro. On Friday, 19 July 2019, the president Jair Bolsonaro publicly Criticized Ricardo Galvão during a news conference with the international press , accusing him of giving lying data about Amazon deforestation and being in the service of some NGO: "The issue of Inpe, I have the conviction that the data are liers. I even sent to see who is the guy who is in front of Inpe. He will have to come explain here in Brasília this data there that passed to the press worldwide , which our feeling does not match the truth. It even seems that he is at the service of some NGO, which is very common." On Saturday, Galvão countered the criticism made by the president: On the same  day, the board of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science defended Galvão in a manifesto that classified Bolsonaro's attacks as offensive, ideological and without foundation. On Sunday, the Brazilian Physics Society issued a note also supporting Galvão and deploring the attacks made by the president. Still on the 21st, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and its president, Luiz Davidovich, also expressed support for Galvão, as did former Minister of Science and Technology José Israel Vargas. On 22 July, Galvão received expressions of support from the 56 scientists who make up the Science and Society Coalition, of Science  and Technology Forum Entities and physicist Luiz Pinguelli Rosa. Galvão reaffirmed his previous statements and although he would not respond to the note of minister Marcos Pontes for not knowing its content and would meet with the minister before replying. He further stated that he had already contacted the minister. On 7 August 2019, Ricardo Galvão's dismissal was published. Douglas Morton, director of the Biosphere Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Space Flight Center, said INPE's results were "unquestionable," explained that INPE had always worked in a technical and judicious manner and classified Galvão's dismissal as significantly alarming  and reflected as "current government treats science. The official deforestation data issued by the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER) confirmed INPE's accuracy. Tribute. The moth "Diptychophora galvani" Landry & Becker, 2021 is dedicated to Galvão, "for his courage in the face of professional adversity". The descriptors also suggest that "the orange colour of the moth's forewings are reminiscent of the devastating fires that had become more prevalent in the Amazon in 2019, compared to 2018, based on Dr Galvão and his team's scientific data that cost Dr Galvão his position of Director of the Brazilian National Institute  for Space Research in August 2019".