Maria Laura Lopes

Maria Laura Moura Mouzinho Leite Lopes or Maria Laura Mouzinho Leite Lopes or Maria Laura Lopes (Timbaúba, October 18, 1917 – Rio de Janeiro, June 20, 2013) was a Brazilian mathematician, the first Brazilian woman PhD in mathematics, specializing in Mathematics education.

A renowned mathematician, she fought the dictatorship and articulated the creation of research institutions. She was part of the group that articulated the foundation of the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF), an institute she created together with José Leite Lopes and César Lattes in 1949. In addition, she participated in articulations to found other important institutions, such as the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) and the (SBEM).

In 1952, she founded the IMPA, together with professor Cândido Lima da Silva Dias (1913–1998). In March of the same year, she was graduated in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (Academia Brasileira de Ciências – ABC).

She married in 1956 to the renowned physicist and professor José Leite Lopes. In 1961 she was appointed professor of the Technical Professional Education of the State of Guanabara and in 1967, she assumed the head of the Mathematics Department of the FNFi, until it became the Institute of Mathematics of the UFRJ.

Exile In 1969, by Institutional Act Number Five (AI-5), she and her husband were exiled and banned from Brazil. The couple left for France, where Maria Laura began her research in Mathematics Education at the Institute for Research in Mathematics Education (Institute de Recherche en Enseignement de Mathematiques). She returned to Brazil only in 1974, already with international experience, and was invited to be the Mathematics coordinator at the Eliezer Eistenbarg Brazilian Jewish School. In 1976, she took part in the foundation of the Group for Teaching and Research in Mathematics Education (Grupo de Ensino e Pesquisa em Educação Matemática – GEPEM), which was chaired by Maria Laura during the first eight years. She coordinated the first research in Mathematics Education in Brazil, the "Teacher-Student Binomial Project in the Initiation to Mathematics Education – an experimental research" (Projeto Binômio Professor-Aluno na Iniciação à Educação Matemática – uma pesquisa experimental).

Return to Brazil After the Amnesty Law in 1979, still under military rule, Maria Laura resumed her professorship at the Mathematics Institute at UFRJ. In 1981 she and a group of teachers developed the research project "Evaluation of students at the end of the 4th grade in public schools" (Avaliação dos alunos no final da 4ª série primária das escolas públicas) in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and in 1982 she joined the Ministry of Education's "Program for Integration of the University with Primary Education" (Programa de Integração da Universidade com o Ensino do 1º Grau). She did several research projects for the federal and state governments on Mathematics education in the country, trying to identify the deficiencies in schools and in teacher training.

In 1980, the first lato sensu post-graduate course in Mathematics Education in Brazil was created, followed by master's and doctorate levels. In 1988, she founded the Brazilian Mathematics Education Society (Sociedade Brasileira de Educação Matemática – SBEM), along with other professors and researchers in the field.

Retirement and death On July 1, 1996, after 65 years of teaching and research career, she received the title of professor emeritus from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Her work is now a reference worldwide, with several articles and books published.

Member of the ABC, Maria Laura died on June 20, 2013.