OUR HISTORY



THE BRAZILIAN REGION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BIOMETRY SOCIETY (RBras) IN THE PERIOD FROM 1955 to 1988

(Historical summary written by Prof. Dr. Frederico Pimentel Gomes)

  • The Brazilian Region of the International Biometrics Society (RBras) was founded in Campinas (SP), on July 8, 1955, during the 5th International Biometrics Congress, promoted by the International Biometrics Society. The founding minutes, written by Américo Groszmann, were signed by 25 members of the Society, 15 Brazilians and 10 foreigners. As best known, stand out among them: R.A.Fisher, D.J. Finney, W.G. Cochran, C.R. Rao, C.I. Bliss, W.J. Youden, A.M. Penha, Walter Leser, C.G. Fraga Jr., A. Conagin, J.M. Pompeu Memory, W.L.Stevens, Ruben Markus, P. Melo Freire, G.G. Duarte and Elza Berquó. As there were already 45 members of the International Society in Brazil, the Region was able to immediately begin its constitution work.
  • The first President of RBras was Constantino Gonçalves Fraga Jr., from Instituto Agronômico de Campinas. The first Treasurer was Américo Groszmann and the first Secretary, Paulo Mello Freire.
  • In its 32 years of existence, RBras has gone through several crises, all of which were overcome with relative ease, to such an extent that it has never stopped operating. In addition to Brazilians, Argentine and Uruguayan citizens have occasionally associated themselves with RBras.
  • Of the 37 meetings held in the Brazilian Region so far, 36 took place in the State of S. Paulo, home of the vast majority of partners, and one just outside S. Paulo, in Londrina, Paraná in 1987. The 36 meetings in São Paulo were distributed in this way. :
  • Campinas – 17; São Paulo – 11; Piracicaba – 4; Ribeirão Preto – 2; Jaboticabal – 1 and Guarujá – 1.
  • The Presidents of RBras were:
  • CG Fraga Jr.: 1956-58, 1964-66; F. Pimentel Gomes: 1958-60, 1966-68, 1974 76, 1980-82; A.M. Penha: 1960-62, 1969-71; P. Mello Freire: 1962-64; Elza Berquó: 1968-69; A. Conagin: 1971-73; R. Vencovsky: 1973-74, 1976-78; A.A. Teixeira: 1978-80, 1984 86; J.G. Correa da Silva: 1982-84; D. Barbin: 1986-88.
  • The presidente at that time was Clovis A. Peres, from the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of São Paulo.
  • An important achievement of RBras was the 10th International Conference on Biometrics, whose work was carried out in Guarujá, from August 6th to 10th, 1979.
  • At the time, he was President of RBras Aldir Alves Teixeira. At the Guarujá conclave there were:
  • 06 conferences, 41 lectures, 119 communications.
  • The Annals of the 10th Conference, published by EMBRAPA, include texts from 2 conferences, 13 lectures and 44 communications, as well as summaries of another 75 communications.
  • From 1985 onwards, the Symposium on Statistics Applied to Agricultural Experimentation is held biennially together with the annual meetings of RBras. The first one was held in Piracicaba, in 1985, and the 2nd in Londrina, in 1987. The 3rd will be held in Lavras (Minas Gerais), in 1989.
  • For many years, RBras published the Biometrics Bulletin, a dissemination organ distributed in Brazil and in some neighboring countries. But, this publication ceased a few years ago.
  • At that time, RBras has 152 members and is the only Region of the International Society of Biometrics operating in Latin America.


THE BRAZILIAN REGION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BIOMETRY SOCIETY (RBras) IN THE PERIOD FROM 1988 to 2005

(Historical summary written by Prof. Dr. Décio Barbin)

  • From 1988 until June 2004, they were Presidents of RBras:
  • Clóvis de Araújo Peres: 1988/90; Clarice Garcia Borges Demetrius: 1990/92; João Gilberto Correa da Silva: 1992/94; Sérgio do Nascimento Kronka: 1994/96; Carlos Roberto Padovani: 1996/98; Clarice Garcia Borges Demetrius: 1998/2000; Maria Cecília Mendes Barreto: 2000/02; Clarice Garcia Borges Demetrius: 2002/04.
  • The President at that time was Prof. Dr. Joel Augusto Muniz, from the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), MG, with a mandate from 2004 to 2006.
  • The first RBras Statute was written with the name of Regulation and sent to all members for their opinion. It was then up to the newly formed Commission to carry out the final draft which was submitted to “The Biometric Society”. It was then approved by RBras on 5/5/56. In 1974, it was redesigned and, in 1992 and 1994, it underwent further updates.
  • In 1989, the 34th Annual Meeting of RBras was held in Lavras, MG, together with the 3rd SEAGRO (Symposium on Statistics Applied to Agronomic Experimentation). Prior to the creation of this Symposium, the annual meetings consisted of two parts: one that was called the General Assembly Meeting and the other that was the Scientific Meeting, called the Scientific Session. These were usually one-day meetings. In 1956, there were two Scientific Sessions, on different dates, the second being held together with that of the SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science), in Ouro Preto, MG. There were 6 works in the 1st Session and 5 in the second. These joint meetings with the SBPC were held again in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but without achieving the desired effect, that is, achieving a greater number of participants and taking advantage of the infrastructure already set up.
  • Prof. Pimentel Gomes, who, in a Scientific Session, attended only him and Dr. Pompeu Memória; one presented their work to the other and the session ended. This fact illustrates the value of these partners and serves as a basis for comparisons with what happens today when we have 200 to 300 participants, mainly in joint meetings with SEAGRO. At the 46th Annual Meeting and 9th SEAGRO, there were 428 participants. It should be noted that until recently, RBras only existed in Latin America. Today the Argentina Region (RArg) already exists. This fact justifies, to some extent, the participation in meetings of RBras, colleagues from Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala and Argentina itself.
  • The places where the Annual Meetings were held and, in odd years, including SEAGRO, continuing what the late Prof. Pepper, were:
  • Lavras, MG 1989; Botucatu, SP 1990; Goiânia, GO 1991; Piracicaba, SP 1992; Porto Alegre, RS 1993; São Carlos, SP 1994; Ribeirão Preto, SP 1995; São José do Rio Preto, SP 1996; Recife, PE 1997; Araraquara, SP 1998; Botucatu, SP 1999; São Carlos, SP 2000; Piracicaba, SP 2001; Rio Claro, SP 2002; Lavras, MG 2003; Uberlândia, MG 2004; Londrina, PR 2005.
  • There were, therefore, 41 meetings in the State of São Paulo, 3 in Minas Gerais, 2 in Paraná, 1 in Goiás, 1 in Rio Grande do Sul and 1 in Pernambuco.
  • The criterion for choosing the location has been, for some time, through proposals made by the partners. When there is more than one, the General Assembly decides, through voting by the present members. These meetings have received financial support from Development Agencies such as: CNPq, CAPES, FAPESP, FAPEMIG and other State Foundations, FINEP and RBras itself. Many guests from abroad have come with air tickets from their own Institutions or from Regional Offices in their countries. In the case of the Presidents of “The Biometric Society”, the support is from the Society itself. Infrastructure and personnel support has been provided by the Institutions hosting the event.
  • The following were the Presidents of “The Bimetric Society” who have participated in RBras Annual Meetings:
  • John Nelder, Pierre Dagnelie, Lynne Billard, Nanny Wermuth and Norman Breslow.
  • The Regional Committee of RBras decided to create, in 1990, the Jornadas em Biometria. The first took place on 01/28/91, at IME/USP, São Paulo, with the theme: “Bioequivalence”. The second was at the IAC (Campinas Agronomic Institute) in Campinas, SP, on 03/23/92, with the theme “Statistics in Biotechnology”.
  • RBras has had an effective participation in the administration of the International. Have been or are part of the “Ordinary Council Members”:
  • Geraldo Garcia Duarte, Frederico Pimentel Gomes, Joassy de Paula Neves Jorge, Roland Vencovsky, José Maria Pompeu Memória, Armando Conagin, Décio Barbin, Clovis de Araújo Peres, Clarice Garcia Borges Demetrio, Sheila Zambello de Pinho, Lisbeth Kaiserlian Cordani, Júlio da Motta Singer and Romeo Magnani.
  • It should be noted that some of these partners were on this Board more than once.
  • Participating in the “Editorial Advisory Committee”, colleague João Gilberto Correa da Silva and, currently, colleague Clarice Garcia Borges Demétrio, in which he was “Chair” for 2 years. As correspondents for the “Biometric Bulletin” we have already had our colleagues João Gilberto Correa da Silva, Lisbeth K. Cordani and, currently, our colleague Luzia Trinca.
  • RBras had, in its 50 years of foundation (07/08/55 – 07/08/2005), with 108 effective members.

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