The seemingly abstract figure that dominates this area of the ‘Science Graffiti Wall’ is at the origin of the formation of a modern Brazil, in which science was - as, perhaps, it’s never been again - part of a nation project. The two small scratches (‘risquinhos’) seen in the image represent one of the most important discoveries of physics of the last century and, as a consequence of that, were founded in Brazil, institutions of research and financing for science.
The year after, Lattes, in co-authoring with the American physicist Eugene Gardner (1913-1950), detected Pi Meson in the 184-inch synchrocyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley. It was an important discovery not only from the scientific point of view, but also a political one, because according to historians of science, it launched a new way of doing physics: particle accelerators.
In Brazil, a campaign - bringing together scientists, military, artists, journalists, businessmen, bankers, etc. - publicly promoted the achievements of Lattes, who at that time would become 'our hero' of the Nuclear Era - a major geopolitical transformation world-wide, and of which Brazil became a part. This campaign led to the founding of the Brazilian Center for Physics Research (CBPF) in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) on January 15, 1949, as well as the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Higher Education Improvement Coordination (Capes), key institutions of the entire infrastructure of administration and financing of scientific research in Brazil.