José Leite Lopes

José Leite Lopes (October 28, 1918, Recife, Pernambuco – June 12, 2006, Rio de Janeiro), noted Brazilian theoretical physicist in the field of quantum field theory and particle physics. Leite Lopes began his university studies in 1935, enrolling in industrial chemistry at the Chemistry School of Pernambuco. In 1937, while presenting a paper to a scientific conference in Rio de Janeiro, the young student met Brazilian physicist Mário Schenberg and... more

José Leite Lopes (October 28, 1918, Recife, Pernambuco – June 12, 2006, Rio de Janeiro), noted Brazilian theoretical physicist in the field of quantum field theory and particle physics. Leite Lopes began his university studies in 1935, enrolling in industrial chemistry at the Chemistry School of Pernambuco. In 1937, while presenting a paper to a scientific conference in Rio de Janeiro, the young student met Brazilian physicist Mário Schenberg and was introduced by him in São Paulo to Italian physicists Luigi Fantappiè and Gleb Wataghin. All three were working on research in physics at the then recently created University of São Paulo, amid a climate of great intellectual excitement and a breeding ground for a bright young generation of what would become the élite of Brazilian physics, such as César Lattes, Oscar Sala, Roberto Salmeron, Jayme Tiomno and Marcelo Damy de Souza Santos. Encouraged to study physics by what he saw, Leite Lopes moved to Rio de Janeiro after hist graduation in... less