Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
King's College London

I’m a doctoral candidate in Social History at the University of São Paulo. Currently I’m at King’s College London as a visiting doctoral student. The subject of my thesis concerns the development of science periodicals in Brazil throughout the 19th-century, focusing on their role in transmitting technical and specialized knowledge to the lay public, such as in the introduction of new production methods. Recently, my research has also covered other aspects of the circulation of technical-scientific knowledge, history of agriculture, and human–animal relations.

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PhD project title: Science Periodicals in 19th Century Brazil: A Study of the 'Auxillador da Indústria Nacional' (1833-1892, 1896)

 

In the first half of the 19th century, dozens of periodicals that proposed to popularise scientific knowledge and its techniques were published in Rio de Janeiro with a common objective: a civilising project for the newborn nation. Among these periodicals, in 1833, a periodical derived from this tradition was launched, which stood out for its longevity and specificity in the search to improve the country’s production methods, O Auxiliador da Industria Nacional (The Helper of National Industry). The periodical was created by the Sociedade Auxiliadora da Indústria Nacional (Society for the Promotion of the National Industry), having circulated for sixty years. This research seeks to understand the history and functioning of the periodical and which transformations it underwent, editorial and institutional. Through the analysis of institutional documents, the compilation and classification of the periodical's content, the examination of the relevant official bibliography, and the historiography of international and national science journalism and science communication, this project proposes to analyse the history of the periodical over its six decades of publication, the thematic evolution of its content, and the participation of the Brazilian government on its funding and distribution.

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Recent Publications:

 

• David F. de M. Penteado, “A tale of enduring myths: Buffon’s theory of animal degeneration and the regeneration of domesticated animals in mid-nineteenth century Brazil,” Journal of the History of Biology, in press.

• David F. de M. Penteado, “Brazilian dromedaries: a history of acclimatization, agricultural modernization, and camelids, 1857-67,” Isis, in press. 

• David F. de M. Penteado, “Os projetos educacionais da Sociedade Auxiliadora da Indústria Nacional: as trajetórias da Escola Noturna de Instrução Primária de Adultos e a Escola Industrial (1871-1902),” Almanack 33 (2023): 1–44. 

• David F. de M. Penteado. Relatos de uma improvável oponente ao comércio de escravizados e a escravidão: Sociedade Auxiliadora da Indústria Nacional, 1820-1888. In: Ana Paula Sena Gomide; Douglas Souza Angeli; Tiago Aparecido da Silva (eds.). História e práticas sociais: dimensões da pesquisa e debates contemporâneos (Porto Alegre: Editora Fi, 2022) pp. 211–30. 

• David F. de M. Penteado, “Sociedade Auxiliadora da Indústria Nacional: a ambiguidade uma associação civil a serviço do Estado brasileiro,” Revista Brasileira de História da Ciência 15.1 (2022): 61–86. 

• César A. F. da Silva, David F. de M. Penteado, “O perfil dos redatores do periódico O Auxiliador da Indústria Nacional (1833-1896),” Revista Diálogos Mediterrânicos 12 (2017): 132–53.

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Papers Given/Exhibitions/Public Engagement: 

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• ‘Circulation of technical and scientific knowledge: Science communication and periodicals in the early nineteenth century Brazil,’ 2023 British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference, Oxford University (04/2023). 

• ‘O Auxiliador da Indústria Nacional (1833-1892, 1896): um periódico científico no Oitocentos,’ 18º Seminário Nacional de História da Ciência e da Tecnologia, University of São Paulo (09/2022). 

• ‘As trajetórias da Escola Noturna de Instrução Primária de Adultos e a Escola Industrial (1871-1902),’ IV Encontro de Pós-Graduandos da Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos do Oitocentos, State University of Campinas (04/2022). 

• ‘Sociedade Auxiliadora da Indústria Nacional: relatos de uma improvável oponente ao comércio de escravizados e a escravidão (1820-1888),’ O Brasil em três tempos: Usos do passado e projetos de futuro, University of the State of Minas Gerais (1822, 1922 e 2022) (03/2022). 

 

 

Recent Grants, Awards, and Prizes 

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• 2023-2025: Direct Doctorate grant by FAPESP, São Paulo Research Foundation, 2022/06235-9. 

• 2022-2026: Graduate Program in Social History: research and production of historical knowledge. Grant by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq, 162797/2022-2 

• 2020-2022: Master’s Degree Program. Grant by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq, 133719/2020-0. 

• 2015: Education and scientific culture in Brazil in a comparative historical perspective: 19th and 21st centuries. Grant by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq, 105783/2015-3. An additional grant was provided by the Catholic University of Santos. 

• 2015: Award for the best presentation of Scientific Initiation research at the X Journey of Scientific and Technological Initiation of the Catholic University of Santos in Applied Human and Social Sciences, Catholic University of Santos. 

 

 

Other Professional affliations and activities 

 

History of Science Society 

British Society for History of Science

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