In July 1994, the then director of INPA, prof. Dr. JOSÉ SEIXAS LOURENÇO, inaugurated the House of Science. Before the official residence of the director of the Institute, there is now a permanent exhibition of the research carried out by the body. On the same occasion, the Foundation's creation act was signed, whose patron was also one of INPA's most industrious directors.
Eighty-one people, including researchers, administrative and technical staff of the agency, university professors and others present at the opening of the Casa da Ciência signed the minutes. The Djalma Batista Foundation was created, currently the Amazonian Foundation for the Defense of the Biosphere - FDB.
More than a simple homage to the man from Acre who chose the city of Manaus to live there, raise children and contribute to his work, the choice of Djalma's name meant express recognition and just reverence for a man whose life can serve as an example. A doctor devoted to the best causes, a man of research dedicated to the effort of unveiling the reality of the region where he was born and has always lived, an intellectual whose mind knew no borders, a father of a family and a unique friend, the memory of Djalma, an inspirational source for the Foundation.
During the first months of operation, the Foundation represented almost an appendix of INPA. From the designation of its first Executive Director, on 02/03/95, it began to have an autonomous life, although under the ultimate control of the Institute, which has majority representation on the Board of Trustees.
In September 2000, the Board was expanded, with the inclusion of six new directors. After the mishaps of the moment of installation, the FDB operated in a building located at the back of the Bosque da Ciência, a dependency managed by it, at the time, as a result of a contract for the assignment of use of public property, signed with the MCT/INPA.
Today, the Foundation occupies its own building, located at Rua dos Crisântemos Nº 70, Bairro Aleixo. FDB carries out projects that support INPA research and other scientific institutions in the region. In addition, the entity is seeking to consolidate social research activities in the Amazon, with the creation and consolidation of an interdisciplinary group of researchers, linked to the most different bodies that work in Manaus.
