In a column in Folha, Viana tells the story of Eliza Maria Ferreira.

Eliza Maria Ferreira Veras Divulgação UFBA

Reproduction of Marcelo Viana's column in Folha de S. Paulo.

Eliza Maria Ferreira Veras da Silva was born in 1944 into a humble family in southern Bahia . Her studies were always encouraged by her mother, Dahil, who recognized her daughter's exceptional talent. After finishing high school—with top marks in all subjects in her final year!—she moved to Salvador , where she taught at several schools.

In 1964, she was approved in 2nd place in the entrance exam for the mathematics degree at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). She completed the course—bachelor's and teaching degree—at the end of 1967 at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics (IME) of UFBA, where she soon became an assistant professor.

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There he learned of the possibility of continuing his studies abroad. In the early 1970s, he won a UNESCO scholarship to pursue a master's degree at the University of Montpellier in France , where he worked with the algebraist Artibano Micali.

After defending her dissertation on associative algebras, she resumed her duties at UFBA, where she simultaneously continued working towards her doctorate.

In 1977, he returned to Montpellier with a scholarship from the French government to complete his thesis, entitled "On non-associative integers".

Research conducted by Professor Manuela Souza (UFBA) indicates that Eliza Maria was the first Black Brazilian woman to obtain a doctorate in mathematics.