The purpose of the article is to analyze a document elaborated by a former National Museum of Rio de Janeiro Director, Heloisa Alberto Torres (1895-1977), who proposed to make a study of the state of affairs of the Natural Sciences and Anthropology in order to restructure the scientific research as a function of the Brazilian economic, political, and social development. The document was sent to the rector of the Universidade do Brasil, Pedro Calmon (1902-1985), in 1946, at the end of the Brazilian Estado Novo and the Second World War, when the Director was reconducted to the post she was in charge since 1938. According to the document the political role of the Natural Sciences and the Anthropology should be exerted in the theoretical limits of Ecology, which collided with the political demands of inordinate exploitation of the nartural resources. The Director's ideas ended up limited to institutional projects, carried out within the framework of the international scientific cooperation politics. This facilitated the circulation of scientists and benefited from national and foreign financial support.
History; Natural Sciences; Science Policy; National Museum of Rio de Janeiro; Heloisa Alberto Torres