02/02/2024

Registration for the 19th OBMEP begins on February 5th.

Registration for the 19th edition of OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools) is approaching. The period for public and private schools to guarantee their participation in the largest scientific competition in the country runs from February 5th (starting at 12 pm) to March 15th.

This year, the Olympiad pays tribute to scientists Johanna Döbereiner and César Lattes , responsible for high-level results for science and for Brazil, and who have obtained international recognition throughout their careers. "Who knows, maybe these stories will inspire research vocations in the country," highlights the general coordinator of OBMEP, Claudio Landim. Johanna and Lattes would have turned one hundred years old in 2024.

Johanna , an agricultural engineer, was born in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and arrived in Brazil in 1948, where she dedicated herself to studying nitrogen fixation in plant roots by bacteria present in the soil. Advances in this area aided plant development and made it possible to dispense with the use of chemical fertilizers. The discovery made cultivation less aggressive to the environment and considerably reduced the cost of agricultural production in the country. According to Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), the method allows for annual savings of more than US$2 billion for Brazil.

A naturalized Brazilian citizen, the Embrapa researcher passed away on October 5, 2000. During her life, she amassed numerous titles and distinctions, including an honorary doctorate from UFRRJ (Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro) and the University of Florida (USA), was the first female vice-president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), and a founding member of the Academy of the Third World in 1981. She received ten scientific awards, was admitted to the National Order of Scientific Merit, in the Grand Cross class in 1994, among other distinctions. Johanna was even nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1997.

César Lattes

Anyone who has been to university is probably familiar with the Lattes platform, which brings together the academic CVs of researchers, Brazilian and foreign professionals working in Brazil, and undergraduate research students. What many don't know is that the initiative honors the Curitiba-born scientist César Lattes – an illustrious Brazilian physicist, co-discoverer, in 1947, of the pi meson, a subatomic particle. This work was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1960, granted to his co-author, the British scientist Cecil Frank Powell, although Lattes was the principal researcher and first author of the article. A leading figure in Brazilian science, Lattes was also one of those responsible for the creation, in 1951, of the CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development).

The scientist is one of the few Brazilians listed in the Encyclopedia Britannica . In 1965, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of São Paulo.

About OBMEP

Promoted by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) , the mathematics olympiad brings together more than 18 million students every year, from the 6th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of high school, from municipal, state, federal and private public institutions.

This year, the first phase of the OBMEP exam will be held on June 4th, and those who qualify for the next stage will take the second phase exam on October 19th. The list of those approved for the second stage will be released on August 2nd, and the winners will be announced on December 20th.