Photo: physics world
Founded in 1949 in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF, or Brazilian Center for Physics Research) is an institute of international excellence in physics research and postgraduate studies.
One of its founders was physicist César Lattes (1924-2005), who in 1947 played a decisive role in detecting the pi meson (or pion), a particle that holds protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of atoms. For this achievement, Lattes was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physics.
CBPF carries out theoretical and experimental research in areas such as high energy, astroparticles, nanotechnology, physics applied to biomedicine, quantum information, materials science, magnetism and scientific instrumentation, often with the important participation of industry partners.
The most important aspect of CBPF's foundation - and the motivation still present in the institution today - is its role as a promoter of the country's S&T infrastructure. The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC) in Petrópolis (RJ) and the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) in Campinas (SP) were conceived at CBPF.
The institute is now continuing this history by hosting the first Fink broker meeting in Latin America, establishing the collaborative structure needed to handle large data surveys transient astronomy.
