O cientista como historiador: Paulo Vanzolini e as origens da zoologia no Brasil

Abstract

O brasileiro Paulo Vanzolini ?? um dos mais importantes herpetologistas do mundo. Al??m de suas publica????es como zo??logo, das atividades de curadoria museol??gica e de sua atua????o na formula????o de pol??ticas cient??ficas, Vanzolini tem longa carreira como m??sico e contribui????es a diferentes ??reas de conhecimento como bioestat??stica, biogeografia e hist??ria das ci??ncias. O artigo analisa suas contribui????es a cap??tulo fundamental da hist??ria das ci??ncias na Am??rica do Sul, o legado dos naturalistas viajantes. Suas an??lises incluem importantes cientistas como Marcgrave, Spix, von Martius, Wied-Neuwied, Castelnau e Agassiz, s??o feitas a partir da retomada de fontes originais e representam valioso reposit??rio de informa????es hist??ricas e cient??ficas.The Brazilian Paulo Vanzolini is one of the leading herpetologists worldwide. Besides his publications as a zoologist and his activities as a former museum curator and policymaker, Vanzolini pursued a long-life career as a musician and contributed to many different fields such as biostatistics, biogeography and the history of science. The paper analyzes his historical contributions to a key chapter of science in Southern America, the legacy of the so-called traveler naturalists. His analyses comprise major scientists such as Marcgrave, Spix, von Martius, Wied-Neuwied, Castelnau, and Agassiz, are informed by re-analyses of original sources and represent an invaluable repository of historical and scientific information