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Letter from the editor | 123

An intense light in Brazilian architecture

Up until this edition, Pesquisa FAPESP had never had a personality as the magazine’s cover. It was a question of editorial policy. For sure, we always want to give value to the work of a researcher and the activity of research, we want to call the attention towards its dynamism, and frequently its beauty, its results and its social effects, but without space for the undesirable personalism and without stimulating rivalry within the scientific arena. This time, however, a comment from FAPESP’s scientific director, Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, led us to think if it wasn’t the correct time to break with this general guideline, but not, clearly, to abandon it once and for all, but to be more flexible. He spoke of the Pritzker Award that the architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha had just won, and, enthusiastically, positioned the deed as one of the most relevant intellectual conquests that the country would henceforth have to commemorate, something of weighty input into its cultural panorama and in the production of knowledge. For this reason alone, Brito Cruz stated, this feat would merit the cover of the next magazine. Yes, it all makes sense.

The cover article of this edition, nevertheless, written by the humanities editor, Carlos Haag, is the opening for a beautiful interview with architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, in which he puts forward, in a perfect and bruising manner, his philosophical point of view, compact and striking, concerning architecture – this field in which his vision deals with all of the forms of knowledge -, urban space, the city, and a lot more. Complementing this is a second article by editor Haig in which he covers the so called Brutalist Group, formed by young architects from Sao Paulo, who, under the guiding light of Vilanova Artigas, made up, during the 50’s and 60’s of last century, another center of Brazilian architecture capable of counter balancing, with rationalism, which gains volume in Rio de Janeiro and principally, with the elegant levity and the buoyant forms, that which materializes in Brasilia. Indeed, it is inevitable to remember at this point that, before Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Oscar Niemeyer  won the Pritzker Award, which he shared with the American Gordon Bunshaft in 1988. Therefore, in summary, no doubt rests that Brazilian architecture has a degree of excellence and a depth of reflection for which it is indisputably recognized internationally. Pesquisa FAPESP rejoices in this.

Apart from a major celebration in the domain of architecture, this edition brings good news in the field of medicine: taking place within the country is a new type of pediatrics, if we can put it that way. We are dealing with an in-depth revision of the role of the pediatrician who, instead of concentrating only on acute infections, and ultimately, on small repercussions in the health of children over a longer period, or even in more serious cases that still continue to kill thousands of tiny patients each year throughout the entire world, will move forward also attempting to avoid that his clients develop the so called chronic-degenerative illnesses. According to a report from the assistant science editor, Ricardo Zorzetto, starting on page 40, if the new pediatricians were to manage to push forward good work in the prevention of these diseases, the children of today could reach  100 years and be strong and healthy.

Other good news: the assistant technology editor, Dinorah Ereno, details out in her article three innovative projects from Unicamp that will be presented at an important international event with representatives of patent offices from various parts of the world, the TechConnect Summit 2006, happening over the next few days in Boston, United States.

Indeed, the leadership that Unicamp has been conquering in the field of patent registrations is well explained in the feature by our special editor Fabrício Marques. He covers a survey carried out by the National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI) that had proven that Brazilian universities occupy the space that should be filled by companies concerning the ranking of patents.

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