IN 1989, Michel Paty dedicated to us his work Parcours à travers la science, la philosophie, son histoire, d'Europe à la terre du Brésil 1965-1987, Luiz Cláudio Cardos and Guy Martinière [orgs.], France-Brésil, Vingt Ans de Coopération - Science et Téchnologie, Institut des Hautes Études de L'Amerique Latine (Paris, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1989, pp. 63-67). The present essay, in turn, is based on a successful history of cooperation, which began in 1965, at the University of Brasília. At the time, we were pursuing our postdoctoral studies and had recently arrived from abroad, but our acquaintanceship lasted less than one year (Roberto Salmeron. A universidade interrompida: Brasília 1964-1965, Brasília,Editora UnB, 1998). In 2003, however, we faced initiatives that were at cross-purposes with the principles that had heretofore guided the conduct of Michel Paty, who was always willing to initiate a "North-South" cooperation - firstly in the field of physics, and later in philosophy and the history of science.
