A SPACE FOR SCIENCE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY IN BRAZIL, by Simon Schwartzman. x + 286 Pp.' tables, app., bibl., index. Revised translation. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991. $32.50

J. McClellan Ill, Stevens Institute or Technology, Published in Choice, October, 1992


Not just a translation of Schwartzman's 1979 study of the development of scientific community [sic] in Brazil, the present work has been updated and recast especially for an English language audience. No book length study in English so comprehensively covers the history and politics of the natural sciences in Brazil, and this work will be welcomed by historians of various stripes, political scientists and policy makers. Part I narrates a multifaceted history of science and scientific institutions in Brazil from colonial roots through the creation of the Universidade de São Paulo in 1934. Part II continues the narration past the restoration of civilian rule in 1985 and adds a prosopographical study of three "generations" of Brazilian scientists, drawn from 56 oral history interviews. The book’s emphasis on the period from the 1930s, and the author’s policy perspective shape the presentation. he argues for pure science as an undervalued key for Brazil's further modernization and in so doing he relies on J. Ben-David's normative (and to this reviewer dated) concept of "scientific role." Thus the account is a whiggish one of small successes and disheartening failures, rather than a more balanced analysis of pure and applied science in a developing country. Still, the hook presents a wide range of fascinating material and will be the starting point for further studies. <