A Tribute to the Late Professor Giulio Massarani 1937–2004

This special issue of Drying Technology is a tribute to thelate professor and Mestre Giulio Massarani, who hascontributed greatly not only to scientific and engineeringresearch and education, but also in building up the per-sonal as well as professional lives of most of the first gen-eration of engineering researchers in Brazil. His scientificand technical contributions are evident to everyonethrough his published works (books, papers in journals,conferences, and articles in proceedings) easily found innumerous libraries and bookstores around the world.However, his true and forceful contributions to educationare known only to a few colleagues through his unpub-lished lecture notes for his classes in undergraduate andgraduate courses. Our Mestre Massarani, day in and dayout, carefully prepared his lectures, recreating the themein a new organized sequence with the most recent applica-tions. ‘‘Students are different each semester and I am grow-ing with them’’ he used to say. These notes (written byhand those days) form a rich material for educating newprofessors and show how simple and effective it is to teachUnit Operations of Mechanical Separation, Drying, Math-ematics, Calculus and so on.

Giulio Massarani was born in Rome, Italy in December1937. One year later, he and his family moved to Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil. In 1960, he graduated in ChemicalEngineering at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. From1961 to 1963, he studied for his M.Sc. degree at Universityof Houston, Texas, USA, under supervision of Prof. F.M.Tiller. From 1967 to 1971, Giulio Massarani worked on hisPh.D. thesis at Universite de Toulouse–France, under thesupervision of Prof. C. Thirriot. Thus he had a true inter-national exposure to chemical engineering education andresearch.

With Alberto Luiz Coimbra, Affonso Silva Telles andother collaborators, Giulio Massarani conceptualized andimplemented in 1963 the Chemical Engineering GraduateProgram (PEQ) of COPPE at Federal University of Riode Janeiro. This was, in Brazil, the pioneering graduateresearch education in engineering and became a modelfor many other graduate programs in Latin America. Inthe last 25 years, PEQ=COPPE=UFRJ has been recognizedby the national evaluation from CAPES (Brazilian Edu-cation Governmental Agency) as the best Chemical Engin-eering Graduate Program in Brazil and Professor GiulioMassarani was without a doubt one of those researchersresponsible for this highest credential. He worked hardand enthusiastically to build this program during all 41years of his career, supervising 26 Ph.D. and 56 M.Sc.students in the process – a prolific accomplishment byany standard.

Undergraduate students, who passed his criterion ofrecognizing a true researcher by looking at the branco dosolhos (meaning ‘‘brightness of the student’s eyes’’), startlearning with him how wonderful and useful it is to com-bine experiments with fundamentals. If one of these stu-dents had presented an impractical and complex modelthat lacked in knowledge, Professor Massarani was quickto advise him: ‘‘The world cannot be so complicated,because God has made nature simple!’’. For sure, the stu-dent would reformulate his unrealistic model thinkinghow simple real life is or is supposed to be.

Working with several researchers and graduate studentsat PEQ=COPPE=UFRJ, Professor Giulio Massarani builtup in Brazil not only the Particulate System area but afamily of particuleiros (a kindly word that defines peoplewho work on Particulate Systems). No other Brazilianresearcher has his talent and competence to develop a gen-eration of researchers that can work together cooperativelyand respect each other. These researchers, like particles,have spread across Brazil building up their own researchgroups. Nowadays, from north to south and east to west

Drying Technology, 24: 257–258, 2006

Copyright # 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 0737-3937 print/1532-2300 online

DOI: 10.1080/07373930600616660

257

of Brazil, several research groups exist who are active inPorous Media R&D; their origin came from the first gener-ation of particuleiros. To join this big family in an enthusi-astic discussion about developments and applications inParticulate Systems, Professor Giulio Massarani had alsoconstructed (not just founded) the ENEMP – NationalMeeting on Flow through Porous Media. The 31stENEMP held in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, was in honorof this outstanding professor, researcher, and creator.

Professor Massarani also had the magical ability tocreate a new and efficient apparatus from used and non-standard pieces of different materials, such as metal, glass,and wood. But more than an aprendiz de feiticeiro(sorcerer’s apprentice), he knew exactly how to mold a

powerful generation with feelings, faith, respect, and crea-tivity. He bewitched us with his strong energy and passionfor living and building a simple and practical world.

He left this complicated world on September 28, 2004,probably with a smart smile telling to each one of us parti-culeiros: Be a man and continue this work because you areimportant in this universe!

Maria Laura Passos and Jose Teixeira FreireGuest Editors

Chemical Engineering DepartmentFederal University of Sao Carlos

Sao Carlos, Brazil

258 A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE PROFESSOR GIULIO MASSARANI