Carlos Chagas Filho
Encyclopedia
Carlos Chagas Filho was a Brazilian physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

 and scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

 active in the field of neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

. He was internationally renowned for his investigations on the neural mechanisms
Neurophysiology
Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function...

 underlying the phenomenon of electrogenesis by the electroplaques
Electric organ
In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...

 of electric fish
Electric fish
An electric fish is a fish that can generate electric fields. It is said to be electrogenic; a fish that has the ability to detect electric fields is said to be electroreceptive. Most electrogenic fish are also electroreceptive. Electric fish species can be found both in the sea and in freshwater...

es. He was also an important scientific leader, being one of the founders of the Biophysics Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and was also a president for 16 years of the Vatican
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...

's Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is a scientific academy of the Vatican, founded in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. It is placed under the protection of the reigning Supreme Pontiff. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and the study of related...

, and president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded in 1916....

 (1965–1967).

Life

He was the second son of Dr. Carlos Chagas
Carlos Chagas
Carlos Justiniano Ribeiro Chagas, or Carlos Chagas , was a Brazilian sanitary physician, scientist and bacteriologist who worked as a clinician and researcher. He discovered Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis in 1909, while working at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro...

 (1879–1934), an eminent scientist who is credited for the discovery of Chagas disease
Chagas disease
Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius,...

. His oldest brother was Evandro Chagas
Evandro Chagas
Evandro Chagas , was a Brazilian physician and biomedical scientist specializing in tropical medicine.He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the eldest son of Carlos Chagas , noted physician and scientist who discovered Chagas disease, and brother of Carlos Chagas Filho , also a noted physician and...

 (1905–1940), also a physician and scientist specialized, like his father, in tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....

.

He studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 from 1926 to 1931 at the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Brasil (presently the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. While a student he worked at Manguinhos, where the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is a scientific institution for research and development in biomedical sciences located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it is considered one of the world's main public health research institutions. It was founded by Dr...

 was founded by the eminent physician Dr. Oswaldo Cruz
Oswaldo Cruz
Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz, better known as Oswaldo Cruz |São Paulo]] state, Brazil – February 11, 1917, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro state) was a Brazilian physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.He also occupied the 5th chair of...

 (1872–1917) and where his father worked, as well as at a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 in Lassance
Lassance
Lassance is a Brazilian municipality located in the north of the state of Minas Gerais. In 2007 the population was 6,458 in a total area of 3,213 km². It became a municipality in 1953.-Location and Distances:...

, state of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

, where his father had discovered Chagas disease. After graduation he went to become a director of this hospital during 1932. But what he really liked to do was biomedical research, following the example of his father and colleagues, so in the next years he worked with several leaders in the field of physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

, such as Miguel Osório de Almeida
Miguel Osório de Almeida
Miguel Osório de Almeida was a noted Brazilian physician and scientist, brother of another scientist, Álvaro Osório de Almeida, both considered the fathers of modern physiology in Brazil....

 (1890–1952) and José Carneiro Felippe. One year after graduation, he accepted a teaching post as assistant professor at the Medical School, in the chair of Biological Physics. With the death of its incumbent, Prof. Lafayette Rodrigues Pereira, he became its chairman and full professor.

Feeling the need to specialize further in neurophysiology, Dr. Chagas Filho travelled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where he worked with René Wurmser and Alfred Fessard, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where he worked with A.V. Hill (1886–1977). Returning to Brazil, he established a Laboratory of Biophysics at the Medical School and assembled a group of students and researchers. In 1945 he achieved the elevation of the Laboratory to the Biophysics Institute, which in a short time became one of the most important and excellent research centers in Brazil. He was its director for a long time, as well as the dean of the Medical School. The Institute presently bears his name. Dr. Carlos Chagas Filho retired in 1980, but continued to work steadfastly almost until his death, at 89 years of age.

Work

Dr. Chagas Filho's main scientific contribution was centered on the study of the eletroplaques of the "poraquê" or electric eel
Electric eel
The electric eel , is an electric fish, and the only species of the genus Electrophorus. It is capable of generating powerful electric shocks, of up to six hundred volts, which it uses for both hunting and self-defense. It is an apex predator in its South American range...

 (Electrophorus electricus), actually a fresh water electric fish
Electric fish
An electric fish is a fish that can generate electric fields. It is said to be electrogenic; a fish that has the ability to detect electric fields is said to be electroreceptive. Most electrogenic fish are also electroreceptive. Electric fish species can be found both in the sea and in freshwater...

 native to the Amazon
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...

. With his group, he made important and original advances in the elucidation of its anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 and electrophysiology
Electrophysiology
Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...

, cytochemistry
Cytochemistry
Cytochemistry is the biochemistry of cells, especially that of the macromolecules responsible for cell structure and function...

, as well as its nervous control. He discovered the brain command structures which control electrical discharges. He discovered also that the electroplaques has two kinds of excitability, one which is direct, and another which is reflex via the nervous pathways. He studied also the effects of curare
Curare
Curare is a common name for various arrow poisons originating from South America. The three main types of curare are:* tubocurare...

 on the electroplaques, which are modified striated muscle
Striated muscle
Striated muscle tissue is a form of fibers that are combined into parallel fibers. More specifically, it can refer to:* Cardiac muscle .* Skeletal muscle* Branchiomeric muscles...

s and thus have synaptic transmission
Synapse
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...

 based on acetylcholine
Acetylcholine
The chemical compound acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in both the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system in many organisms including humans...

 (curare is an antagonist of this neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitter
Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...

). Dr. Chagas Filho also isolated the ACh membrane receptor
Membrane receptor
Cell surface receptors are specialized integral membrane proteins that take part in communication between the cell and the outside world...

.

As an educator, Dr. Chagas Filho left a very important influence on biomedical research in Brazil, through his many scientific disciples and colleagues at the Biophysics Institute, many of whom went to became leaders themselves in neurophysiology, such as Hertha Meyer, Hiss Martins Ferreira, Eduardo Oswaldo Cruz Filho, Ricardo Gattass, Aristides Azevedo Pacheco Leão, Eduardo Penna Franca, Gustavo de Oliveira Castro, Darcy Fontoura de Almeida, Antonio Paes de Carvalho, Carlos Guinle da Rocha Miranda, Romualdo José do Carmo and several others. It was during the initial years of the Institute, also, that Rita Levi-Montalcini
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Rita Levi-Montalcini , Knight Grand Cross is an Italian neurologist who, together with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of nerve growth factor...

 (1909-), then a young researcher of Jewish descent who had to escape fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

, worked towards her important discoveries on neurotrophic factors, supported by Carlos Chagas Filho. She later went to receive the Nobel Prize of Physiology and Medicine.

He published several books, including an autobiography, a biographical memoir about his father and more than 100 scientific papers.

Scientific leadership and honours

Dr. Chagas Filho played a significant role as international leader and representative of Brazilian science abroad. He was a Brazilian delegate and ambassador (1966) to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 in Paris, and member of the Research Council of the Pan American Health Organization
Pan American Health Organization
The Pan American Health Organization is an international public health agency with over 100 years of experience working to improve health and living standards of the people of the Americas...

 (PAHO), in Washington, DC. At the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 he was president of the Special Committee for the Application of Science and Technology to Development. Together with Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 winner, physicist Abdus Salam
Abdus Salam
Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk (Urdu: محمد عبد السلام, pronounced , (January 29, 1926– November 21, 1996) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the...

 (1926–1996), he founded the Interrnational Federation of Institutes for Advanced Sciences (IFIAS).

In 1972, he was appointed by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...

 to the presidency of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which he occupied until 1989. During his tenure, he was distinguished with the historical task of rehabilitating Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...

 by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 and with coordinating a study of the historical and scientific validity of the Turin shroud. He was deeply religious and sought to reconcile science and religion as best as possible. Thus, he led the Academy of Sciences through a number of important meetings and publications, examining controversial issues such as the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

 and conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...

, and attracting great scientific personalities to the Academy, including a number of Nobel awardees.

In Brazil he was a member, vice-president and president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded in 1916....

 (1941–2000) and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (1974–2000), a member of the National Research Council
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
The Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico is an organization of the Brazilian federal government under the Ministry of Science and Technology, dedicated to the promotion of scientific and technological research and to the formation of human resources for research in the...

 and one of the founders and member of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science
Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência
Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência is a Brazilian scientific society created in 1948 by several prominent scientists, with the aim of promoting science, culture and education in the country by means of publications, conferences and political actions on behalf of science's advancement...

.

Carlos Chagas Filho was awarded with 16 titles of Honoris Causa Doctor in many national and foreign universities, and 19 decoration
State decoration
State decorations are orders, medals and other decorations granted by a state. International decorations are similar, but are not granted by a specific nation but rather an international organization....

s, including that of Légion d'Honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 (1979) and the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit
Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit
The National Order of Scientific Merit is an honor bestowed upon Brazilian and foreign personalities recognized for their scientific and technical contributions to the cause and development of science in Brazil.-Biology:* Marcelo Hermes-Lima* Jorge Curi...

. He was a member of the French Académie des Sciences and Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine, or National Academy of Medicine was created in 1820 by king Louis XVIII at the urging of baron Antoine Portal. At its inception, the institution was known as the Académie Royale de Médecine...

, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

, American Philosophical Academy, Royal Academy of Belgium, Romenian Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of the History of Sciences.

Among his many scientific awards, he received the Moinho Santista Science Prize (1960); the Prêmio Álvaro Alberto para a Ciência e Tecnologia (1988); and the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca is an international literary award.-Origins and operations:It was established in 1969 in France by Simone Del Duca to continue the work of her husband, publishing magnate Cino Del Duca .Designed to recognize and reward an author whose work constitutes, in a...

, by the Fondation Simone
Simone Del Duca
Simone Del Duca was a French businesswoman, a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and major philanthropist. Married to French publishing magnate Cino Del Duca, on his death in 1967 she was left with a considerable fortune...

 et Cino Del Duca
Cino Del Duca
Cino Del Duca was an Italian-born businessman film producer and philanthropist who moved to France in 1923 where he made a fortune in the French publishing business.-Biography:...

, France (1989)

External links

  • Almeida DF. Carlos Chagas Filho, Scientist and Citizen. An Acad Bras Cienc. 2000 Sep;72(3):299-300. Full text in English
  • Carlos Chagas Filho. Brazilian Academy of Sciences biography (In English)
  • Carlos Chagas Filho. Notable Brazilians. Instituto Brasileiro de Informação Científica e Tecnológica. (In Portuguese)
  • Carlos Chagas Filho. Brazilian Academy of Letters biography (in Portuguese)
  • Pinto-Dias, JC. Carlos Chagas Filho e a doença de Chagas. Alguns traços à luz de confidências e inconfidências . Rev. Soc. Bras. Med. Trop. 2000; 33(3). Eulogy (in Portuguese). Full text
  • Biography and interviews. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. (In Portuguese)
  • Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho website.
  • Darcy Fontoura de Almeida, «Carlos Chagas Filho», Biographical Memoirs - Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
    American Philosophical Society
    The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...

    (vol. 147, no. 1, 2003, pp. 77–82)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK