Carlos Chagas Filho 4048588 204432612 2008-04-09T11:58:30Z Tabletop 173687 Spell nember => member '''Carlos Chagas Filho''' (b. [[September 19]], [[1910]]; d. [[February 16]], [[2000]], [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]]) was a Brazilian [[physician]], [[biologist]] and [[scientist]] active in the field of [[neuroscience]]. He was internationally renowned for his investigations on the [[neurophysiology|neural mechanisms]] underlying the phenomenon of electrogenesis by the [[electric organ|electroplaques]] of [[electric fish]]es. He was also an important scientific leader, being one of the founders of the [[Instituto de Biofísica da Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro|Biophysics Institute]] of the [[Federal University of Rio de Janeiro]] and was also a president for 16 years of the [[Roman Curia|Vatican]]'s [[Pontifical Academy of Sciences]], and president of the [[Brazilian Academy of Sciences]] (1965–1967). ==Life== He was the second son of Dr. [[Carlos Chagas]] (1879–1934), an eminent scientist who is credited for the discovery of [[Chagas disease]]. His oldest brother was [[Evandro Chagas]] (1905–1940), also a physician and scientist specialized, like his father, in [[tropical medicine]]. He studied [[medicine]] 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]] was founded by the eminent physician Dr. [[Oswaldo Cruz]] (1872–1917) and where his father worked, as well as at a [[hospital]] in [[Lassance]], state of [[Minas Gerais]], 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]], such as [[Miguel Osório de Almeida]] (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]], where he worked with [[René Wurmser]] and [[Alfred Fessard]], in [[Paris]], and to [[England]], 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 [[poraque]] (''Electrophorus electricus''), a fresh water [[electric eel]] which is endemic in the [[Amazon River|Amazon]]. With his group, he made important and original advances in the elucidation of its [[anatomy]] and [[electrophysiology]], [[cytochemistry]], 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]] on the electroplaques, which are modified [[striated muscle]]s and thus have [[synapse|synaptic transmission]] based on [[acetylcholine]] (curare is an antagonist of this [[neurotransmitter]]). Dr. Chagas Filho also isolated the ACh [[membrane receptor]]. 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]] (1901-), then a young researcher of [[Jewish]] descent who had to escape [[fascism]], worked towards her important discoveries on [[neurotrophic factor]]s, 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]] in Paris, and member of the Research Council of the [[Pan American Health Organization]] (PAHO), in [[Washington, DC]]. At the [[United Nations]] he was president of the Special Committee for the Application of Science and Technology to Development. Together with [[Nobel Prize]] winner, physicist [[Abdus Salam]] (1926–1996), he founded the [[Interrnational Federation of Institutes for Advanced Sciences]] (IFIAS). In 1972, he was appointed by [[Pope Paul VI]] 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]] by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and with coordinating a study of the historical and scientific validity of the [[Turin shroud]]. He was deeply religious but 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]] and [[conscience]], 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]] (1941–2000) and member of the [[Brazilian Academy of Letters]] (1974–2000), a member of the [[Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico|National Research Council]] and one of the founders and member of the [[Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência|Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science]]. Carlos Chagas Filho was awarded with 16 titles of [[Honoris Causa]] Doctor in many national and foreign universities, and 19 [[decoration]]s, including that of [[Légion d'Honneur]] (1979) and the [[Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit]]. He was a member of the French [[Académie des Sciences]] and [[Académie National de Médicine]], [[Academia das Ciências de Lisboa]], [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], [[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]], by the Fondation [[Simone Del Duca|Simone]] et [[Cino Del Duca]], France (1989) ==Bibliography== * Chagas Filho, C. ''Carlos Chagas, Meu Pai''. Rio de Janeiro, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz, 1993. * E Gomes-Quintana, RD Machado, C Chagas Filho. Cholinergic membranes from normal and denervated electric organ of Electrophorus electricus (L.). ''IRCS Med. Sci Biochem'', 1980. * CS Mermelstein, V Moura Neto, C Chagas Filho . Desmin expression in the electric organs of Electrophorus electricus (L.). ''J Cell Biochem'', 1988. * H Meyer, G Oliveira Castro, C Chagas Filho. Quelques aspects de l’histogenese et de l’ontogenese des organes électriques chez l’ Electrophorus electricus… ''CR Acad Sci Paris'', 1971. * C Chagas Filho, E Penna-Franca, A Hassón-Voloch. Studies of the mechanism of curarization. ''An Acad Bras Cien'', 1957. ==External links== * Almeida DF. Carlos Chagas Filho, Scientist and Citizen. ''An Acad Bras Cienc.'' 2000 Sep;72(3):299-300. [http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0001-37652000000300002&tlng=es&lng=en&nrm=iso Full text in English] * [http://www.abc.org.br/english/history/carlos_chagase.html Carlos Chagas Filho]. Brazilian Academy of Sciences biography (In English) * [http://www.canalciencia.ibict.br/notaveis/resumo.php?id=11 Carlos Chagas Filho]. Notable Brazilians. Instituto Brasileiro de Informação Científica e Tecnológica. (In Portuguese) * [http://www.academia.org.br/imortais/cads/9/chagas.htm 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). [http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822000000300014 Full text] * [http://www.coc.fiocruz.br/manguinhos/carlos.htm Biography and interviews]. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. (In Portuguese) * [http://www.biof.ufrj.br/ Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho] website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chagas Filho, Carlos}} [[Category:1910 births]] [[Category:2000 deaths]] [[Category:Brazilian biologists]] [[Category:Brazilian physicians]] [[Category:Brazilian neuroscientists]] [[Category:Biophysicists]] [[Category:Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:Inductees of the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit]] [[Category:Federal University of Rio de Janeiro]] [[pt:Carlos Chagas Filho]]