Museums, research and surveys: Patrimônio Cultural Luso-Brasileiro de Ciência e Tecnologia in perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to present results of the research project Patrimônio Cultural Luso-Brasileiro de Ciência e Tecnologia as well as to question itself on the reality of researching in and about museums. Thus, some key-questions surrounding the theme are briefl y revisited as means to throw into sharp relief the very practice of research, its process, reason and relevance. The project focuses on the reality of sets of objects referring to the historical processes of scientific and technological development present in both Brazil and Portugal, which may constitute a part of the Science and Technology cultural heritage. Research nature was both qualitative and quantitative, characterized as descriptive-exploratory, and with a bibliographical component. The survey has been delimited in relation to areas of knowledge and historical period of interest, focusing on the objects related to exact and earth sciences, as well as the different engineering specialties, being of relevance those objects produced up until the 1960s. After collected data treatment and analysis, it was sought to produce knowledge about the found sets. However, information gaps generated more questions than answers, as such, the research’s product is more akin to a general panorama and a reflection on society’s organization and the part played by heritage in it than a set of very accurate numeric data.