From agriculture to space travel, science is everywhere. Its presence, however, frequently goes unnoticed and its relevance is often underrated. In that sense, scientific outreach is still one of the most important tools when it comes to raising awareness about the importance of science in general and, most importantly, about its impact on the economic development of a country.
To glimpse into the future, tough, it is necessary to analyze the past and when it comes to the history of Brazilian science, the past is brilliant. Even though science financing was always inconsistent and precarious, Brazilian scientists were responsible for the invention of the polyvalent antiophidic serum; were the firsts to ever trace the entire cycle of a disease, — the Chagas Disease; and participated in the discovery of the meson pi particle. They have also discovered the bradykinin, a potent vasodilator that is used until now in the treatment of hypertension; Brazilian scientists were the firsts to complete a heart transplant in the Latin America and were the firsts to identify the Aedes aegypti as the transmitter of the yellow fever in Latin America.
Even with the great achievements of the past, today, more than ever before, the practice of scientific outreach has a crucial role on the destiny of science in the country. The creation of public policies that protect the investments in this field will be a reality only when citizens and political representatives recognize what the scientific community emphasized for a long time: science creates development!
