Luiz Bezerra de Oliveira is considered the living memory of the Brazilian Society of Soil Science. His name has been in the official history of the SBCS since 1965, when he joined the board as a counselor. Before that, he had already participated in events and was enthusiastic about the idea of ​​bringing together people interested in soil science in Brazil.

Dr. Bezerra, as he is known, is the author of the book Sociedade Brasileira de Ciência do Solo, um olhar sobre sua história, first published in 2004 and republished in 2007. The book is an invaluable contribution to the memory of the SBCS because it records all the events ever promoted by the SBCS and how they evolved and transformed over time. Many were photographed by Dr. Bezerra himself, who is present at almost all of them to this day. The publication was a spontaneous initiative by the author, fully supported by the Board of Directors of the SBCS, which expects further updates from him. Luiz Bezerra de Oliveira became an honorary member of the SBCS in 1997, during the XXVI Brazilian Congress of Soil Science.

Luiz Bezerra was born in 1924 in Pernambuco. He graduated in Industrial Chemistry in 1946 and became a soil specialist in 1955 at UFRRJ. He worked at DNOCS – National Department of Works against Droughts, in the Soil Section of the Augusto Trindade de Souza Institute at IPEANE – Institute of Agricultural Research and Experimentation of the Northeast and at Embrapa, where he remained until his retirement in 1994. During his long career, he also served as a visiting professor at UFRPE and UFSM. He stood out for his research on soils in the Brazilian Northeast, with an emphasis on Soil Physics. He published more than 60 scientific papers, becoming an essential reference for anyone studying porosity and water in soils in the Northeast.

One of Dr. Bezerra’s great contributions to Soil Science was coordinating the team that published the Soil Analysis Methods Manual, the first edition of which was produced by Embrapa’s National Soil Survey and Conservation Service.