03/08/2020

Former IMPA professor Djalma Galvão dies at age 79.

Professor Djalma Galvão Carneiro Pessoa died last Saturday (1), at the age of 79. Djalma, who taught at IMPA, had been working as a consultant for IBGE since 1997, in activities focused on the development and application of statistical methodologies, teaching and research.

Graduating in engineering from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in 1963, Djalma deepened his career in mathematics during his master's degree at the Technological Institute of Aeronautics, where he worked as a professor in the Department of Mathematics. At the University of California (Berkeley), under the guidance of Peter Bickel, he became one of the first PhDs in statistics to have received his training outside of Brazil.

Upon returning to Brazil, he had another brief stint at ITA, but soon joined IMPA as a professor in the second half of the 1970s. There he contributed to the training and guidance of students until 1986.

Djalma was the leader of the group that founded the Brazilian Statistical Association (ABE) and chaired the board responsible for establishing the association between 1984 and 1986, providing scientific support to the institution. The professor also participated in the creation of the National Symposium on Probability and Statistics (SINAPE) and contributed to the implementation of several postgraduate programs in the field.

In 1987, he assumed the position of director at the National School of Statistical Sciences (ENCE) of the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). Five years later, he became the Institute's director of planning and coordination. Even after retirement, he continued working at the institution as a consultant and received the ABE Award for the relevance of his work.

The researcher's body was cremated on Sunday (2), in Rio de Janeiro.