B-MRS participated in the ceremony in honor of the scientist and engineer Ricardo Rodrigues, held on the morning of November 9 in the Sirius building, organized by CNPEM. The emotional ceremony, which was broadcast live on YouTube, brought together some relatives and friends, who held demonstrations and presentations about Rodrigues’ extensive scientific career and personal aspects.
Representing the Board of B-MRS, Professor Daniel Mario Ugarte (UNICAMP), a member of the Society, handed a plaque to Rodrigues’ widow, Liu Lin, who is also a scientist. The B-MRS’s homage to Ricardo Rodrigues was conceived by members of B-MRS at the beginning of the year and would take place at the opening of the XIX B-MRS Meeting, which would be held in September this year in Foz do Iguaçu, but was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. The ceremony organized by CNPEM provided a new opportunity to perform the tribute.
Commemorative inscription in the plaque
“B-MRS homage to Antônio Ricardo Droher Rodrigues (1951 – 2020). The Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) pays homage to Ricardo Rodrigues’ fundamental contribution to the successful development and implementation of Brazilian synchrotron light sources (UVX and Sirius), which have placed Brazil at the forefront of materials research worldwide. November 2020.”
Ricardo Rodrigues
Ricardo Rodrigues was one of the main leaders responsible for the construction of the first synchrotron light source in the Southern Hemisphere, UVX, inaugurated in 1997. Starting in 2009, he led the engineering team that developed Sirius’ electron accelerators, the second light source synchrotron of Brazil. He passed away on January 3, 2020, at the age of 68.
The recording of the ceremony can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrmTDdnyv9s.