Oswaldo Cruz
| Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz | |
|---|---|
Oswaldo Cruz
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| Born | August 5, 1872 São Luís do Paraitinga, São Paulo, Empire of Brazil |
| Died | February 11, 1917 (aged 44) Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Residence | Brazil |
| Citizenship | Brazilian |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Fields | Physician |
| Institutions | Instituto Oswaldo Cruz |
| Alma mater | Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |
Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz, better known as Oswaldo Cruz (Portuguese pronunciation: [oʒˈvawdu ˈkɾuʃ]; August 5, 1872 in São Luís do Paraitinga, São Paulo province, Brazil – February 11, 1917 in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro state), was a Brazilian physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.
He occupied the fifth chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1912 until his death in 1917.
Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz was born on August 5, 1872 in São Luis do Paraitinga, a small city in São Paulo Province, to the physician Bento Gonçalvez Cruz and Amália Bulhões Cruz. As a child, he moved to Rio de Janeiro with his family. At the age of 15 he started to study at the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro and in 1892 he graduated as medical doctor with a thesis on water as vehicle for the propagation of microbes. Inspired by the great work of Louis Pasteur, who had developed the germ theory of disease, four years later he went to Paris to specialize in bacteriology at the Pasteur Institute, which gathered the great names of this branch of science of that time. He was financed by his father-in-law, a wealthy Portuguese merchant.
Cruz found the seaport of Santos ravaged by a violent epidemic of bubonic plague that threatened to reach Rio de Janeiro and engaged himself immediately in the combat of this disease. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro authorized the construction of a plant for manufacturing the serum against the disease which had been developed at the Pasteur Institute by Alexandre Yersin and coworkers. He asked the institution for a scientist who could bring to Brazil this know-how. The Pasteur Institute responded that such a person was already available in Brazil: Dr. Oswaldo Cruz.
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