30/08/13

How science met carnival on the streets of Brazil

By: Luisa Massarani

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<h1>How science met carnival on the streets of Brazil</h1>
<h4>By: Luisa Massarani</h4>
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<p>[RIO DE JANEIRO] Colour, music, glitter, buzz. The Carnival of Brazil is famous worldwide for its exaltation of the senses. You might be forgiven for thinking that science is far removed from the carnival world, but the truth is that several experiences prove otherwise.<br />
 <br />
In the 1940s — when the Brazilian scientist César Lattes achieved worldwide fame by identifying the atomic particle pi meson — two samba composers explored Lattes' discovery in their song 'Science and Art'.<br />
 <br />
Decades later, the Carnival of Brazil is still linked to science, and, year after year, Darwin, Einstein, DNA and the Big Bang have been chosen by other <a href="https://www.scidev.net/communication/news/brazilians-learn-about-science-through-samba-and-carnival.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">samba schools</a> for their presentations in the parade.<br />
 <br />
<em>Luisa Massarani</em> reports on this playful, popular and engaging way of communicating science.</p>
<p><em>This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's Latin America & Caribbean desk.</em></p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/multimedia/how-science-met-carnival-on-the-streets-of-brazil/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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[RIO DE JANEIRO] Colour, music, glitter, buzz. The Carnival of Brazil is famous worldwide for its exaltation of the senses. You might be forgiven for thinking that science is far removed from the carnival world, but the truth is that several experiences prove otherwise.

In the 1940s — when the Brazilian scientist César Lattes achieved worldwide fame by identifying the atomic particle pi meson — two samba composers explored Lattes' discovery in their song 'Science and Art'.

Decades later, the Carnival of Brazil is still linked to science, and, year after year, Darwin, Einstein, DNA and the Big Bang have been chosen by other samba schools for their presentations in the parade.

Luisa Massarani reports on this playful, popular and engaging way of communicating science.

This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's Latin America & Caribbean desk.