Edgar Roquette-Pinto (September 25, 1884 – October 18, 1954) was a Brazilian writer, ethnologist, anthropologist, and physician. He was a member of the
Academia Brasileira de Letras
The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL; English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literature, literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation ...
and is regarded as the father of
radio broadcasting
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...
in Brazil.
Life
Roquette-Pinto was born in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
in 1884. He graduated in medicine at the
Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro in 1905. Roquette-Pinto became assistant of Anthropology at the
National Museum in Rio de Janeiro (1906).
In 1912 Roquette-Pinto went on an expedition to
Rondônia
Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west,
Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...
and lived for some time with the
Nambikwara people, which until then were virtually
uncontacted. He collected extensive ethnographic material and published them in the book ''Rondonia'' (1916),
which became a classic of anthropological literature of Brazil.
In 1926 he became director of the National Museum and began building the largest collection of scientific documentaries in Brazil.
First radio broadcast in Brazil
On September 7, 1922, for the
Independence Centenary International Exposition, American technicians from
Westinghouse installed a radio antenna atop the
Corcovado
Corcovado () which means " hunchback" in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a granite peak located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park.
Corcovado hill lies just west of the city center but is wholly within t ...
mountain, to present the technology to Brazil. The first transmission in Brazil was a speech of president
Epitácio Pessoa.
Roquette-Pinto, envisioning the radio potential for educational uses, convinced the
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Brazilian commonly refers to:
* Brazil, a country
* Brazilians, its people
* Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect
Brazilian may also refer to:
* "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis
* Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937)
* Bra ...
to purchase the equipment. Still in 1922 the first radio station in Brazil was founded, the
Rádio Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro. Roquette-Pinto became its first director.
In 1936, Roquette-Pinto donated the station to the Brazilian government; Radio Sociedade became Rádio MES, then
Rádio MEC.
See also
*
Troféu Roquette Pinto
References
External links
Profile on Academia Brasileira de Letras website(in Portuguese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roquette-Pinto, Edgar
Brazilian male writers
Brazilian medical writers
Brazilian anthropologists
Radio in Brazil
1884 births
1954 deaths
Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Brazilian Academy of Letters
National Museum of Brazil
20th-century Brazilian anthropologists
Officers of the Order of the White Lion
Brazilian eugenicists