SCAR is saddened to inform the community of the death of Professor Antonio Carlos Rocha Campos on July 22 2019, at 82 years. Professor Rocha Campos was the only Brazilian to be president of the SCAR (1994-1998) and played a key role in promoting world-class Antarctic research in Brazil and in developing the Brazilian Antarctic Program (Proantar).
Born in Araras (São Paulo State, Brazil), Professor Rocha Campos graduated in Geology from the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1960. He began his academic activities at the Department of Geology and Paleontology at USP in 1961, where he received his doctorate in 1964.
He began his participation in SCAR in 1984 as Delegate of the Brazilian National Antarctic Committee. He was the elected Secretary of SCAR from 1984-1990, becoming President in 1994. He served SCAR as President until 1998, and became an Honorary Member in 2002.
Professor Rocha Campos helped Brazil become a full member of the Antarctic Treaty and assisted in the training of hundreds of researchers. From 1983, he coordinated Proantar’s scientific activities.
His scientific activities encompassed two main lines of research, related to pre-Pleistocene glacial sedimentation and palaeontology of the Brazilian Neopaleozoic.
He also worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Illinois, City University of New York, University of Minnesota, the American Museum of Natural History, the Natural Museum of Natural History and the United States Geological Survey, USA, and the University of Strasbourg, France. He was a past President of the Sub-commission on Gondwana Stratigraphy (ICS-IUGS), and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
SCAR’s thoughts are with Professor Rocha Campos’ family and friends.