, d. January 2, 2010 in São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

), Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

-Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian nuclear physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 and important scientific leader, Emeritus Professor of the Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo.

Sala

Sala

- Geography :* Sala Municipality, Sweden - a municipality in Sweden* Sala, Sweden - a city in Sweden, seat of Sala Municipality* Sala municipality, Latvia - a municipality in Latvia* Sala, Latvia - a village in Latvia, an administrative centre of Sala municipality...

graduated in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 in 1943, at the then recently created University of São Paulo

University of São Paulo

Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...

, in São Paulo, Brazil. The Department of Physics of the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters was started with two imminent Italian physicists, Gleb Wataghin

Gleb Wataghin

Gleb Vassielievich Wataghin ; was a Ukrainian-Italian experimental physicist and a great scientific leader who gave a great impulse to the teaching and research on physics in two continents: in the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; and in the University of Turin, Turin, Italy.Wataghin was...

 and Giuseppe Occhialini

Giuseppe Occhialini

Giuseppe Paolo Stanislao "Beppo" Occhialini ForMemRS was an Italian physicist, who contributed to the discovery of the pion or pi-meson decay in 1947, with César Lattes and Cecil Frank Powell . At the time of this discovery, they were all working at the H. H...

, who specialized in researching cosmic radiation. He was contemporary with a brilliant generation of young Brazilian physicians, such as César Lattes

César Lattes

Cesare Mansueto Giulio Lattes , also known as Cesar Lattes, was a Brazilian experimental physicist, one of the discoverers of the pion, a composite subatomic particle made of a quark and an antiquark.-Life:Lattes was born to a family of Italian Jewish immigrants in Curitiba, Southern Brazil...

, José Leite Lopes

José Leite Lopes

José Leite Lopes , noted Brazilian theoretical physicist in the field of quantum field theory and particle physics.-Life:...

, Mário Schenberg

Mário Schenberg

Mário Schenberg, , var. Mário Schönberg, Mario Schonberg, Mário Schoenberg), was a Jewish Brazilian electrical engineer, physicist, art critic and writer.-The Urca process:...

, Roberto Salmeron

Roberto Salmeron

Roberto Salmeron , Brazilian electrical engineer and experimental nuclear physicist of international renown, Emeritus Research Director of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France ....

, Marcelo Damy de Souza Santos

Marcelo Damy de Souza Santos

Marcelo Damy de Sousa Santos was a Brazilian physicist.Considered as one of the most important educators and researchers in physics in Brazil, along with Cesar Lattes, José Leite Lopes and Mario Schenberg, Damy was born in Campinas, São Paulo in 1914, the son of Harald Egydio de Souza Santos a...

 and Jayme Tiomno

Jayme Tiomno

Jayme Tiomno , was a Brazilian experimental and theoretical physicist with interests in particle physics and general relativity. He was member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit...

. While still a student, Oscar Sala started research work with the group. In 1945, Sala published with Wataghin an important paper on showers of penetrating nuclear particles.

Soon after graduation, he was hired as a teaching assistant by the Chair of General and Experimental Physics, led by Prof. Marcelo Damy de Souza Santos

Marcelo Damy de Souza Santos

Marcelo Damy de Sousa Santos was a Brazilian physicist.Considered as one of the most important educators and researchers in physics in Brazil, along with Cesar Lattes, José Leite Lopes and Mario Schenberg, Damy was born in Campinas, São Paulo in 1914, the son of Harald Egydio de Souza Santos a...

. His entire scientific and teaching career was spent at the same institution, which later became the Institute of Physics. In this new capacity, Sala became head of the Department of Nuclear Physics (1970–1979 and 1983–1987).

In 1946 Oscar Sala received a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

 and went to study in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, first at the University of Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

, and subsequently, in 1948, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

. There, he participated in the development of electrostatic particle accelerator

Particle accelerator

A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...

s for use in nuclear physics

Nuclear physics

Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...

 research, the first devices to use pulsed beams for the study of nuclear reactions with rapid neutrons. Upon his return to Brazil, Sala was responsible for installing and coordinating research efforts based on a large electrostatic Van de Graaff generator

Van de Graaff generator

A Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to accumulate very high voltages on a hollow metal globe on the top of the stand. It was invented in 1929 by American physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff. The potential differences achieved in modern Van de Graaff...

. Later, he helped to build a pelletron

Pelletron

A pelletron is a type of electrostatic particle accelerator similar to a Van de Graaff generator. Pelletrons have been built in many sizes, from small units producing voltages up to 500 kilovolts and beam energies up to 1 megaelectronvolt of kinetic energy, to the largest system, which has...

 at the University of São Paulo

University of São Paulo

Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...

 (the first in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

).

As a scientific leader, Dr. Oscar Sala was one of the founders and a scientific director (1959–1965) with the Foundation for Support of Research of the State of São Paulo (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo is a public foundation located in São Paulo, Brazil, with the aim of providing grants, funds and programs to support research, education and innovation of private and public institutions and companies in the state of São Paulo...

 (FAPESP) and president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência

Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência

Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência is a Brazilian scientific society created in 1948 by several prominent scientists, with the aim of promoting science, culture and education in the country by means of publications, conferences and political actions on behalf of science's advancement...

). He was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Academia Brasileira de Ciências), the Third World Academy of Sciences

Third World Academy of Sciences

TWAS, until 2004 named Third World Academy of Sciences and now TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, is a merit-based science academy uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development in...

 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

. Prof. Sala was a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical online magazine that covers global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction...

http://www.thebulletin.org.

Selected bibliography

• WATAGHIN, G. and SALA, O. 1945. Showers of penetrating particles. Phys. R., vol. 67, p. 55.
• AXEL, P., GOLDHABER, M. and SALA, O. 1948. Internal conversion electrons accompanying slow neutron capture in Gd. Phys. R., vol. 74, p. 1249.
• HERB, R. G. and SALA, O. 1948. Design of electrostatic generator for the Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil. Phys. R., vol. 74, p. 1260.
• BOWER, J., GOLDHABER, M., HILL, R. D. and SALA, O. 1948. Short lived metastable state of an "Even-Even" nucleus Ge72. Phys. R., vol. 73, p. 1219.
• ACQUADRO, J. C., HUSSEIN, M. S., PEREIRA, D. and SALA, O. 1981. The contribution of quasi-elastic processes to the total reaction cross-section of heavy ions. Physical Review Letters., vol. B100, p. 381.
• SALA, O. 1982. Post-accelerator for the Pelletron of the University of São Paulo. Workshop on Nuclear Physics, 5., La Plata, Argentina:.