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Allies, Controversies, and Data Sharing: Biomedical Research between Brazil, the United States, and the United Kingdom (1938–1947)
Mon, July 13, 4:15 to 5:45pm, Edinburgh Futures Institute, 3.35English Abstract
Drawing on the international exchanges of the Brazilian pharmacologist Maurício Oscar da Rocha e Silva, this paper examines the circulation of experimental data in biomedical field between 1939 and 1947. While working on histamine release in inflammatory reactions at the Instituto Biológico de São Paulo, Rocha e Silva became involved in a controversy in 1938, challenging the results of Valy Menkin’s research at Harvard University. To counter U.S. findings, he corresponded with Midwestern pharmacologists Charles Code and Carl Dragstedt, exchanging experimental data and expanding the circle of critics of Menkin’s work. These alliances, forged around a dispute on the mechanisms of inflammation, increased Rocha e Silva’s international visibility and secured him a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship- that allowed him to work with Code and Dragstedt between 1940 and 1941. After returning to Brazil, he continued to collaborate with Dragstedt and broadened his connections among specialists studying histamine release, most notably William Feldberg of the University of Cambridge. In 1947, he travelled to the United Kingdom as a British Council fellow to conduct research with Feldberg and was invited to join the “Histamine Club”, marking the end point of this study. Using correspondence and scientific publications, this contribution maps the circulation of experimental data among Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom and traces the diplomatic strategies that enabled Rocha e Silva to navigate an asymmetrical scientific landscape. It highlights how data sharing in biomedicine unfolded within unequal scientific conditions, making this case a notable episode in the history of science diplomacy.