“Eles não sabem que o sonho é uma constante da vida”. António Gedeão’s poem turned into music by Manuel Freire, echoes through the Congress Centre at Técnico – Alameda campus. On April 12, Joaquim Sampaio Cabral, a professor at Técnico, received the title of Emeritus Professor of Universidade de Lisboa. The agenda also included the publication of his book “Memórias de uma viagem longa num mundo pequeno – 50 anos de Engenharia Química e Bioengenharia”, a workshop that reflected his legacy in various branches of Bioengineering and the ceremony to confer the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of Universidade de Lisboa to Jonathan Dordick.
At the ceremony to confer the title of Emeritus Professor, the president of Técnico Rogério Colaço revealed that he had known Joaquim Sampaio Cabral for 15 years, describing him as someone who “was never afraid to destabilise systems to find new solutions”. “That’s what we have to learn from his legacy,” he concluded.
Luís Ferreira, the rector of Universidade de Lisboa, recalled “his permanent sympathy, the empathy he created in any working group, the firmness of his positions and his determination”. Sarcastically, he also confessed a “tremendous feeling of envy for all that he had achieved”, pointing to the number of friends “from major Portuguese and foreign institutions” who filled the room to attend the award ceremony.
According to João Pedro Conde, Head of the Department of Bioengineering, “Sampaio Cabral left a very important mark on our institution” and “his legacy will continue for a long time”. Raquel Aires Barros, a professor at Técnico and the first PhD student of professor Sampaio Cabral, described him as “a central figure in the field of biotechnology and bioengineering in Portugal”. More than forty years after becoming Sampaio Cabral’s student, the professor says she has “the privilege of witnessing and celebrating a remarkable career and a story of success and inspiration”.
His career was highlighted throughout the morning of that day – the workshop “Joaquim Cabral’s legacy on Enzyme, Bioprocess and Stem Cell Engineering” brought together several talks that reflected on areas of bioengineering impacted by the professor’s work. In addition to the eight Técnico professors who gave lectures during the morning, Jonathan Dordick, a bioengineer who would receive the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from Universidade de Lisboa that afternoon, also gave a speech. This latest initiative came from Sampaio Cabral himself and coincides with the first title of Doctor Honoris Causa awarded at the proposal of a member of the Department of Bioengineering.
After the memories, “life must go on…”
The motto of the day, as Joaquim Sampaio Cabral insisted several times, was that “life must go on”. Formerly chairman of Técnico’s Scientific Council, he is currently a full professor at the Department of Bioengineering, which he helped found in 2011. “Técnico is and has always been a great institution”, he said on the eve of April 12th, in an interview – “it has always played an extremely important role in my life”.
This “extremely important role” appears in the autobiographical book he published the following afternoon. In ‘Memórias de uma viagem longa num mundo pequeno – 50 anos de Engenharia Química e Bioengenharia’ (‘Memories of a long journey in a small world – 50 years of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering’), Sampaio Cabral describes his personal and academic experiences, from childhood to graduation. The preface of the book was written by Manuel Heitor, also a full professor at Técnico, who presents it as “a record of the school’s history, in its scientific, cultural and human aspects”.
Sampaio Cabral’s lecture at the end of the day didn’t just focus on the past, he also had a lot to say about the present and the future. He shared his desire to see universities give students more time “to think and develop a critical spirit”, also promoting a reading culture and incorporating more arts and social and human sciences. “Eventually, one of you may even win a Nobel Prize, but please read”, he told those present.
He listed the development of enzyme engineering, bioprocesses and stem cells as his main scientific contributions, having supervised eight, 17 and 20 PhD students in these areas respectively (with a 21st in stem cells still in progress). However, and quoting Isaac Newton, he justified his successes by the fact that he had “stood on the shoulders of giants” who had taught and done research before him.
Critical of compulsory retirement, which he considers “discriminatory” because it applies to the public sector and not the private sector, Joaquim Sampaio Cabral emphasised that “ageism is a form of segregation”. “At 70, people are treated as if they were incompetent”, he criticised. His tone lightened when he described with humour the period during which he did his doctorate alone, in a room in the Mining Engineering Building, playing Elvis Presley’s Lonely Man.
It wouldn’t be the last musical moment of the day. He ended his lesson with Life Must Go On, by Alter Bridge which, after a serene guitar intro, exploded into a rock music riff that drew surprised laughter from the audience. Abruptly cutting the track, he apologised for the sudden intensity of the song – “this is not for my age”. Responding to his punchline, the audience at the Congress Centre rose to its feet in a standing ovation.
