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
He graduated in Telecommunications Engineering from Universidade Federal Fluminense in 1969. He obtained a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of Campinas in 1972 and a PhD in Plasma Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976.
He was director of the Brazilian Centre for Physics Research (CBPF) between 2004 and 2011 and president of the Brazilian Physical Society between 2013 and 2016. A full professor at the University of São Paulo, Galvão is a researcher at the USP's Plasma Physics Laboratory, where he conducts research in the area of nuclear fusion with the TCABR tokamak.
He was a professor at Unicamp from 1971 to 1982 and at the University of São Paulo since 1983, where he is currently a full professor. In parallel, he also worked as a researcher for the Aerospace Technical Centre from 1982 to 1986. In 1981 he also worked, inside USP, together with Ivan Nascimento, in the construction of TBR-1, the first tokamak in Latin America, which was functional until 1995.
From 2005 to 2012 he was director of the Brazilian Centre for Physics Research (CBPF).
In 2016 he took over as head of the National Institute for Space Research. Following his exoneration in 2019, Galvão returned to teaching at the Institute of Physics at USP.
Awards
In 1984 Galvão received the ICTP Prize from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, for his theoretical contributions in magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability, resistive modes and laser interaction with matter. In 2008 he was admitted to the Class of Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit and in 2015 received the Carneiro Felippe Medal.
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." The Ministry of Science even built a group to survey Ricardo Galvão's life, in order to see any things he "did wrong," as a way to force him to resign, as well as having his phone tapped.
On Saturday, Galvão countered the criticism made by the president: