Gláucia RodriguesThe former minister in his apartment in Belo Horizonte, 2011Gláucia Rodrigues
José Israel Vargas, a chemist and physicist from Minas Gerais, died in Belo Horizonte on May 15, at the age of 97. In interviews, he used to call himself a “jinx” because he was only invited to public positions in times of crisis. That was certainly the case when he switched from an academic career to an executive role in 1963, appointed director at the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) during the João Goulart administration. He was fired after the military coup of 1964 and although he managed to return to a teaching position at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), the reduction in salary meant he had to temporarily move back in with his mother at the age of 36.
It was also at a time of institutional confusion that in 1992, Vargas was invited to recreate and lead the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT, today the MCTI) by Itamar Franco (1930–2011), who was appointed President of the Republic after the impeachment of Fernando Collor de Mello. While both experiences occurred during times of crisis, the outcome of his time in government disproves the “jinx” label. The department, which has now been in existence for 40 years, has had 25 different heads, 15 of whom held the position for less than a year (see Pesquisa FAPESP issue no. 350). Vargas, the longest-serving of them all, was responsible for a period during which the ministry was stabilized and consolidated. He remained in office until 1998, throughout the first term of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Itamar’s successor.
“He played an important role in establishing science, technology, and innovation during the period. As well as being a high-level scientist, Vargas thought strategically about Brazilian science,” recalls ecologist José Galizia Tundisi, who presided over the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the ministry’s leading science agency, between 1995 and 1999. According to Tundisi, Vargas believed Brazil’s research funding system was overly focused on meeting the individual demands of scientists and not concerned enough with strategic projects for the country. He thus ruled that 60% of the CNPq’s budget would be reserved for large projects. One initiative he managed from 1995 onwards was the Support Program for Centers of Excellence (PRONEX), formed by networks of high-level researchers. During his term he also oversaw the creation of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), construction of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), and the launch of the first two CBERS Earth observation satellites, in partnership with China. “I didn’t go there to reinvent the wheel and I knew that my predecessors were not imbeciles or evil—they were just people who had to decide whether to carry out certain projects or not, and to start many others. So I spent my time finishing studies that had already been approved,” recalled Vargas in an interview with Pesquisa FAPESP in 2011.
His time in office also coincided with the final push for construction of the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source in Campinas, which received private funding. The embryo of what would later become the Sectorial Funds for Science and Technology, which to this day are the main funding mechanism for the ministry, also emerged during his term, through the creation of a science and technology fund fed by royalties from oil concessions.
“José Israel Vargas also played an important role in science diplomacy, meaning the use of science and technology as foreign policy tools,” says former foreign minister Celso Lafer, who worked with Vargas in the Fernando Henrique administration, referring to his work as president of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) between 1996 and 2000; in the debate and negotiations surrounding the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and as Brazil’s ambassador to UNESCO from 2000 to 2003, during which time he participated in initiatives such as the Commission for the Revival of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. “He was a leading figure for our country,” adds Lafer.
Vargas was Brazil’s ambassador to UNESCO and president of the World Academy of Sciences
The former minister was born in Paracatu, in the northwest of Minas Gerais, where his family worked in commerce—his grandfather was a traveling salesman. He spent his teenage years in Belo Horizonte and in 1946 enrolled in the chemistry course at the School of Philosophy of Minas Gerais (Fafi-MG), the predecessor of UFMG’s School of Philosophy and Human Sciences. He transferred to the University of São Paulo (USP) for two years to study physics, but returned to the Minas Gerais state capital to complete his chemistry degree in 1952.
He went on to teach at a high school and in 1952 was recruited for a physics teacher training course offered by the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), in São José dos Campos, São Paulo State. In 1956, he took a specialization course in radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry at the University of Concepción, Chile, which was attended by professors from the University of Cambridge, UK. There he met English chemist Alfred Gavin Maddock (1917–2009), who had worked on the Manhattan Project, responsible for the development of the atomic bomb in the USA. Maddock invited Vargas to do a PhD at Cambridge under his supervision.
In 1960, back in Brazil, Vargas headed the Nuclear Physics Division of the Institute for Radioactive Research at UFMG’s School of Engineering, and in 1963 he became one of the four directors of CNEN. At the time, he was Brazil’s representative on committees at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Vienna, Austria. The entire group was removed from CNEN after the 1964 coup. After UFMG rejected his request to return to full-time teaching, his income fell significantly and he decided to accept an invitation from an IAEA colleague to work at the Center for Nuclear Studies in Grenoble, France. He spent six and a half years there, supervising doctoral students on topics related to nuclear techniques applied to chemistry problems.
In 1971, José Pelúcio Ferreira (1928–2002), then president of the Brazilian Funding Authority for Studies and Projects, hired Vargas as a consultant. In 1974 he began working with the governor of Minas Gerais, Aureliano Chaves (1929–2003), as president of the João Pinheiro Foundation. He was also responsible for the creation of the state’s Science and Technology Department, which he directed. During the presidency of General João Figueiredo (1918–1999), he was appointed Secretary of Industrial Technology at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. In 1981, he became vice president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), later serving as its president from 1991 to 1993.
After retiring from UFMG, he maintained his ties with the university. Luiz Cláudio Almeida Barbosa, a professor of chemistry at the university, a personal friend of Vargas, and coauthor of a recent article about his career in the journal Química Nova, told the UFMG website that the former minister continued to supervise undergraduate students until recently, despite his vision problems—he even hired someone to read for him. “He was tireless,” he said.
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