The noble enigma: Chagas' nominations for the nobel prize

Carlos Chagas, a Brazilian physician, discovered the American trypanosomias is in 1909. Like other remarkable discoveries of those days, his work helpe d to articulate the insect-vector theory and other theoretical guidelines i n tropical medicine. Unlike all other discoveries, all the stages of this w ork were accomplished in a few months and by a single mart. Chagas' discove ry was widely recognized at home and abroad. He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize - in 1913 and in 1921 -, but never received the award Evidence suggests that the reasons for this failure are related to the violent oppo sition that Chagas faced in Brazil. The contentions towards Chagas were rel ated to a rejection of the meritocratic procedures that gave him prominence , as well as to local petty politics.