MÁRIO SCHENBERG inspires us by indicating that the path lies in recognizing our limits. As a notable scientist, he contributed to enormous advances in the understanding of physics, and as a citizen, he intervened in the political debates of Brazilian society. We share the mission of defending scientific values on all fronts.

This manifesto gave rise to the Mário Schenberg Institute, which integrates science, research and citizenship. In this way, it will seek to strengthen the country’s capacity to produce and apply appropriate public policies to different challenges presented by the reality of the Brazilian people. To this end, the Mário Schenberg Institute will develop actions to publicize, inform, educate, disseminate and apply science and technology, prioritizing the production of Brazilian researchers and educators. Understanding more about the problems our country faces can help us find practical solutions.

We are at a moment in the history of the country when the methodical and rigorous knowledge of the sciences is under attack. At a time when our best teaching and research institutions are under scrutiny, public education is being dismantled, and their technical teams are the targets of slander, boycotts, and moral lynching.

Knowledge is a crucial right of citizens. Knowing your rights and your right to knowledge is also a right. Inspired by this, the founders of the Mário Schenberg Institute sought to advocate for a democratic approach to science, science by everyone for everyone, and thus established a dialog between those who create, study, cultivate, and reproduce it.

Scientific work can be found in universities, classrooms, basic education, and other educational spaces. It is evident in the realm of science communication and in the pursuit of daily interests. We want to strengthen scientific communication, reversing the elitist tradition of cultivating knowledge that is closed in on itself and shared only among its peers, in order to shape the lives of citizens.

The scientific method constitutes a cognitive tool that should be universally 

accessible. It stimulates curiosity and creativity and encourages public participation in understanding its processes. Scientific and technological sovereignty for the benefit of sustainable human development, at the regional and national levels, can only be achieved with scientific projects that are accessible and understandable to the population.

Science must play an active role in the processes of analysis and propositions if it is to effectively address the crucial issues Brazilian society and culture faces. Decisions must be made regarding climate change, biodiversity preservation, school curricula, the development of the country’s productive capacity, and diseases and pandemics prevention. In order to act, it is imperative to understand the relationship between science and the exercise of citizenship rights. Science serves as a crucial ally in our mission. Equipped with the highest level of self-criticism, facilitated by the methodical and methodological approach characteristic of this knowledge, we must take the role of our own most discerning critics. A more efficacious approach to promoting the common good would be achieved by combining different spheres of public debate.

It is acknowledged that all areas of knowledge, as well as other human knowledge and expressions, possess equal value. The democratization of science means making scientific knowledge accessible to the public and ensuring its comprehensibility. The concept involves using scientific knowledge to create public policies that promote life quality and well-being.

The Mário Schenberg Institute recalls the memory and achievements of the physicist and art critic, whose perception integrated the sciences and the arts into everyday life as a single and indivisible human construction. The phenomenon of life is the same. Its analysis, observation, and expression are part of the phenomenon itself. The phenomenon of life does not recognize a hierarchy of values between all its integrated aspects.