Lourinha - The First National Computer
1958-1960
From 1958 to 1960, students from Brazilian Army Technical School, currently Engineering Military Institute (IME), worked on the project called “Lourinha”, considered the first computer developed in Brazil.
In their final project, 1st Lieutenants Herbert Baptista Fiuza, José Augusto Mariz de Mendonça, Jorge Muniz Barreto, Mário de Moura Alencastro, Walter Mario Lace and Edison Dytz developed “Lourinha” which was the first analog-digital device capable of automating simple operations such as solving a 2nd degree equation, representing them electrically by capacitors, resistors and transistors.
In this way, through wire connections, the solution was obtained on an oscilloscope. The work was guided by Dr. Helmut Theodor Schreyer, German researcher and professor of the Digital Electronic Circuits discipline who came to Brazil in 1949, after the 2nd World War, and became a member of the IME from 1952 to 1984.
“Lourinha” represented an important milestone in the History of Computing in Brazil, demonstrating the great capacity of Military Engineering to generate disruptive technological innovations.
Military Engineers made it possible to create the first undergraduate course in Computer Engineering in Brazil in 1985. Thus, in 1987, the first five Computer Engineers were graduated in Brazil: Captains Geraldo Pereira do Nascimento Junior, José Arthur Vieira, Paulo Roberto Leite Xavier, Paulo Roberto de Lira Gondim and Tasso de Siqueira Ottoni.
The pioneering spirit of IME in Computing is not limited to graduation. In 1972, the Master's Program in Systems Engineering was officially created, focusing on Operations Research and Applied Mathematics, which culminated in the first dissertations being defended in 1975 by students Paulo da Silva de Vasconcelos and Denise Vieira da Fonseca Lopes. This is one of the first postgraduate courses in the area, along with those offered by Rio de Janeiro Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio) and Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ).
The researchers trained at this renowned bicentennial school currently participate in several projects and research conducted by Brazilian Army and other country agencies, developing dual technologies that contribute to national development and sovereignty.