Eduardo de Campos Valadares

Eduardo de Campos Valadares received his doctorate in physics from the Brazilian Center for Physical Research in Rio de Janeiro in 1987 and did postdoctoral research at São Paulo University (1987—1990) and at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom (1990—1993). Since 1993, he has been with the Physics Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, one of the major Brazilian universities. Valadares has published over 60 papers in different areas of condensed matter physics, physics education, and the popularization of science. His first book is a translation of work by the German poet Stefan George (Iluminuras, São Paulo, 2000), followed by Física mais que divertida (UFMG University Press, 2000, 2nd edition, 2002), launched in Germany in 2003 by Aulis Verlag Deubner (Spaβ mit Physik) and now in the United States by Prentice Hall (the American edition, Physics, Fun, and Beyond, is enlarged with over 40 new projects and includes comments on all experiments). He also published in Brazil a biography of Isaac Newton (Odysseus Editora, 2003), illustrated with low-cost experiments highlighting Newton's ideas. Valadares is co-author of an introductory book on nanotechnology targeted at secondary school teachers, a joint publication of the Brazilian Physical Society and Editora Livraria da Física (2005). In 2001 he received the State Prize Francisco the Assis Magalhães Gomes for his contributions to popularization of science and technology in Brazil. He is also the president of the Youth Science Foundation Brazil. Valadares loves playing with his three children, who deeply inspire him, and to contemplate the world from the top of the mountains surrounding his home.