Farinaldo Queiroz
Physics
Passionate about dark matter, Farinaldo Queiroz graduated in physics from the Federal University of Paraíba, where he also earned a master’s and a doctorate in the field. During his doctorate, he spent time at FERMILAB in the United States and won the best thesis award from the Brazilian Physics Society in 2013. He also completed two post-doctoral fellowships abroad: at the University of California, USA, and the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany.
Married and the father of two girls, he balances work with caring for his family. He also enjoys watching São Paulo Football Club matches and producing physics comic books at home to encourage public school students to enjoy science. He is a professor at the International Institute of Physics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, leading the Particles and Astroparticles group.
Projects
Atoms, the fundamental building blocks of all matter around us, are composed of elementary particles. However, astounding observations reveal that this ordinary matter constitutes a mere 5% of the universe’s total content. This perplexing enigma has led to the postulation of a novel form of matter, the most abundant in the universe, seemingly composed of yet-to-be-discovered elementary particles. To unravel the nature of this elusive particle, which plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the universe itself, dozens of ambitious experiments have been constructed worldwide, each costing around 15 million dollars. Our endeavor aims to propose innovative strategies for detecting these enigmatic particles and to emphasize the crucial role of interdisciplinary collaboration across fields such as geology, astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, condensed matter physics, and nuclear physics in achieving this groundbreaking discovery.
