This group examines the history of the evolutionary synthesis of genetics and natural selection, and its impact upon agriculture, and theories of race and eugenics.
Speaker Robert Wegner Researcher, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz) Professor, Graduate Program in History of Sciences and Health, Fiocruz
Presentation Title and abstract will be announced soon.
About Robert
Robert Wegner holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and is a researcher at the Department of Research in History of Sciences and Health at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz), where he also teaches in the Graduate Program in History of Sciences and Health.
His research focuses on intellectual history and the history of science in Brazil, particularly debates concerning race and eugenics, as well as Brazilian social thought and the relationships between history, culture, and scientific thought.
Further details about the presentation will be announced soon.
Friday, October 16, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
Speaker Alan Sokal Professor of Mathematics, University College London (UCL) Professor Emeritus of Physics, New York University (NYU)
Presentation “When Science and Politics Collide: Lysenkoism and Communist Scientists in Britain, France and Italy”
The decade-and-a-half conflict in the Soviet Union between Lysenkoists and classical geneticists culminated in 1948, when genetics was officially declared to be a bourgeois pseudoscience. How did Communist and fellow-traveler scientists in the West react to this potential conflict between their scientific ethos and their political commitments?
The presentation will examine the variety of responses, focusing particularly on Britain, where the Communist Party was small but included several prominent scientists, notably J.B.S. Haldane and J.D. Bernal, as well as France and Italy, which had the largest Communist parties in Western Europe.
About Alan
Alan Sokal is Professor of Mathematics at University College London and Professor Emeritus of Physics at New York University. His research has included statistical mechanics, quantum field theory, and mathematical physics, alongside extensive work on questions concerning science, philosophy, culture, and the relationship between science and ideology. He is also the co-author, with Jean Bricmont, of Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science, and the author of Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture.
The lecture will be delivered in English.
Past Meetings
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Speaker Pedro de Lima Navarro Ph.D. in Comparative Biology, University of São Paulo (USP) M.A. candidate in Science Education, State University of Maringá (UEM)
Presentation “Augusto César de Miranda Azevedo: Translating a Tropical Darwinism in 19th Century Brazil”
Augusto César de Miranda Azevedo (1851–1907) was an important figure in the dissemination of Darwinism in Brazil. While most historians have interpreted his reading of Darwin’s ideas as a “distortion” or, at best, as lacking originality, this presentation proposes that “creative appropriation” better explains the process.
By analyzing Miranda Azevedo’s 1875 doctoral thesis and his series of public lectures, the presentation argues that he actively and creatively adapted Darwinian principles in the hope of explaining — and possibly changing — Brazilian society. Through a process of interepistemic translation, Miranda Azevedo developed a form of “Tropical Darwinism,” making conscious choices about how Darwinism would be presented in Brazil. His case illustrates how different contexts of reception shape the circulation of scientific ideas across the world, moving beyond interpretations based on the supposed insufficiency of local readings in relation to a “pure” original set of ideas.
About Pedro
Pedro de Lima Navarro recently defended his Ph.D. in Comparative Biology at the University of São Paulo (Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto – USP), with research focused on the reception of Darwinism in Brazil and Portugal. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in Science Education at the State University of Maringá (UEM).
The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
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Speaker Alessandra Santana Soares e Barros Full Professor, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) Graduate Program in Education and Graduate Program in Teaching, Philosophy and History of Science
Presentation “O lugar da ‘IMG’ (Interruption Médicale de Grossesse) nos discursos sobre Luto Perinatal (Deuil Périnatal) na França”
[“The place of ‘IMG’ (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) in discourses on Perinatal Grief in France”]
In France, narratives about Medical Termination of Pregnancy (IMG) strategically use discourses — media, legal, and political — on perinatal grief, resulting in: the impression that most fetuses aborted due to fetal anomaly (TOPFA) would have died anyway; an eidetic proximity to “euthanasia” in the decision-making process of pregnant women; the avoidance of mentioning “feticide” as an intrinsic and constitutive step of this type of abortion; and the omission of Down syndrome and its significant prevalence in such cases.
About Alessandra
Alessandra Santana Soares e Barros is a Full Professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), affiliated with the Graduate Program in Education and the Graduate Program in Teaching, Philosophy and History of Science.
The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
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Speaker Sofia Nestrovski M.A. in Literary Theory, University of São Paulo (USP) Ph.D. candidate in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, University of São Paulo (USP)
Presentation “The Shame of Being Ashamed: The Relationship Between the Literature of the ‘Self’ and Darwin’s Thoughts on Humankind”
[“A vergonha de sentir vergonha. A relação entre a literatura do ‘eu’ e o pensamento de Darwin sobre a humanidade”]
The talk will focus on the relationship between the literature of the “self” and the development of Charles Darwin’s biological thinking, with a special emphasis on The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). The vocabulary and modes of observation employed by Darwin to describe human emotions — especially shame as a form of self-awareness — do not arise solely from a scientific tradition, but also engage with a literary tradition interested in naming and exploring inner life. Starting from William Wordsworth’s influence on Darwin, this paper seeks to approach Darwin’s writings through certain techniques of literary criticism, in order to read his theory of emotional expression through the lens of literary questions regarding perception, inner experience, and human universality.
About Sofia
Sofia Nestrovski holds an M.A. in Literary Theory from the University of São Paulo and is currently a Ph.D. candidate there, researching The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, by Charles Darwin. She has translated Darwin’s book on earthworms into Portuguese and is the co-author, with Leda Cartum, of As vinte mil léguas de Charles Darwin (Editora Fósforo/Edições Sesc, 2022), based on her podcast Vinte mil léguas, a Jabuti Award semifinalist, bridging literary studies and the history of science.
The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
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Speaker Marcelo Monetti Pavani M.A. in Science Education, University of São Paulo (PIEC-USP) Affiliated with LaHBE-USP
Presentation “Spencer, Lamarck e a angústia da influência” [“Spencer, Lamarck, and the Anxiety of Influence”]
In this presentation, Pavani will discuss aspects of Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary theory, with particular attention to the distinctive way in which Spencer appropriated ideas from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and addressed Lamarck’s influence on his own theoretical framework.
Presentation: "The captain’s social policy: Bolsonarism, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics, and militarization in Brazil"
The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Suggested Readings:
Ferreira, G. C. (2024). The captain’s social policy: Bolsonarism, neo-Malthusianism, eugenics, and militarization in Brazil.Serviço Social & Sociedade, 147(2).
Presentation: "How General Could an (Evolutionary) Theory Be?" The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Suggested Reading:
"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" Author: Theodosius Dobzhansky Source: The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Mar., 1973), pp. 125-129 Published by: National Association of Biology Teachers. Link to PDF
"Chapter 17: Practices of Generalization in Mathematical Physics, Biology, and Evolutionary Strategies" Author: Evelyn Fox Keller (Attached)
To learn more about Dr. Cortese, please click here: Google Scholar.
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Speaker: Mateus Costa Claro Molina Master’s Student in the Graduate Program in Comparative Biology University of São Paulo Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters of Ribeirão Preto
Presentation: "Trofim D. Lysenko: From Vernalization to the Phasic Development of Plants." The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Suggested Reading: Please see the attached materials.
To learn more about Mr. Molina, please click here: Lattes Curriculum
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TBA
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Speaker: Prof. Francesco Cassata Full Professor in Contemporary History, University of Genoa Presentation: "Reconstructing 'Dante's Race': Fabio Frassetto and the International Committee for Anthropological Standardization (SAS)." The lecture will be delivered in English. Suggested Readings: Iris Clever, Jaehwan Hyun, Elise K. Burton, "People in Motion: Introduction to Transnational Movement and Transwar Connections in the Anthropological and Genetic Study of Human Populations", Perspectives on Science, 30, 1 (2022): 1-12. Link: https://direct.mit.edu/posc/article/30/1/1/108148/People-in-Motion-Introduction-to-Transnational
To learn more about Prof. Cassata, please click here.
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This session is postponed and will be rescheduled. Speaker: Dra. Ágata Ignaciuk Klemba (Spain) Full Professor, Universidad de Granada Department of Anatomical Pathology and History of Science Presentation: "Gendering Contraceptive Technologies in Communist Poland." The lecture will be delivered in English. Suggested Readings: Coming soon. To learn more about Dr. Ignaciuk Klemba, please click here.
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Speaker:
M.s. Daniel Florence Giesbrecht (Brazil) Researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Coimbra Guest lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FLUC/UC) Ph.D. candidate in the Contemporary History Program, University of Coimbra
Presentation:
“Divus vs. Galton: Eugenia Negativa e Catolicismo no Brasil nas Décadas de 1920 e 1930” [Divus vs. Galton: Negative Eugenics and Catholicism in Brazil during the 1920s and 1930s]
The lecture will be in Portuguese.
Suggested Reading [Portuguese]:
1 - GIESBRECHT, Daniel Florence. Eugenics and Catholicism in Brazil: a study based on Catholic intellectual production in Rio de Janeiro in the decades of 1920 and 1930. In Revista de História Regional, v. 29, 2024. Link.
2 - WEGNER, Robert; SOUZA, Vanderlei Sebastião de. Negative eugenics, psychiatry, and Catholicism: Debates around eugenic sterilization in Brazil. História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos, v. 20, pp. 263-288, 2013. Link to PDF.
3 - VELLOSO, Mônica Pimenta. A Ordem: A journal of political doctrine and Catholic culture. Revista de Ciência Política, v. 21, n. 3, pp. 117–160, 1978. Link to article.
Dr. Guilherme Prado Roitberg (Minas Gerais, Brazil) Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Minas Gerais (IFMG), Brazil Postdoctoral Researcher in the History of Science at the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz), Brazil
Presentation:
"É preciso arredondar os olhos do japonês": eugenia e miscigenação na obra "Aspectos íntimos do Japão" (1952) de Salvador de Toledo Piza Júnior.
["It's Necessary to Round the Japanese Eyes": Eugenics and Miscegenation in the Work "Intimate Aspects of Japan" (1952) by Salvador de Toledo Piza Júnior.].
William deJong-Lambert is a Professor of History at Bronx Community College, CUNY who will be spending the spring semester 2025 teaching at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul as a Fulbright scholar while researching a biography of Theodosius Dobzhansky.
Paula Habib
Paula Habib is a Professor of History at the Federal University Fluminense (UFF/Brazil). Habib´s research specializes in history of agriculture, genetics, history of biology and eugenics during the first decades of the 20 th century. She holds a Ph.D. in History of Science and Health by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Marcelo Lima Loreto
Marcelo Lima Loreto is a science journalist and historian of science who writes for Folha de S.Paulo and other media outlets. He was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Institute of Latin American Studies (2022–2023) and a Research Fellow at the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (2021–2022). He received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 2019. His work examines the history of evolution, heredity, and the life sciences in Brazil. Dissertation here: http://bibcegos.nce.ufrj.br/hcte/docs/teses/2019/marcelo_lima_loreto.pdf
Sofia Nestrovski
Sofia Nestrovski holds an M.A. in Literary Theory from the University of São Paulo and is currently a PhD candidate there, researching “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”, by Charles Darwin. She has translated Darwin’s book on earthworms into Portuguese and is the co-author, with Leda Cartum, of “As vinte mil léguas de Charles Darwin” (Editora Fósforo/Edições Sesc, 2022), based on their podcast “Vinte mil léguas” (a Jabuti Award semifinalist), bridging literary studies and the history of science.
