The lecture course “5X CIÊNCIA ÀS 5” is back this school year for another set of 5 lectures, always at 5 pm on Wednesdays, an activity promoted by the Department of Experimental Sciences at Morgado de Mateus School Grouping. As in previous years, this activity aims to bring the teachings of science to the entire educational community, and this year had a huge new feature: it came out of the doors and took place for the first time in the beautiful and very welcoming Espaço Miguel Torga. In addition, her first special guest was Professor Dr. José Losada, of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, who excited and fascinated us all on October 20, 2021 with the fascinating detail of a truly adventurous Jules Verne: how he developed an entirely new scientific method for dating ancient trees .

Indeed, Professor Losada, in a very eloquent and pedagogical way, has revealed and shown us in practice, the teachers of the physical and natural sciences, the way in which science is done: it begins with a problem, hypotheses are applied, the scientific method is applied A solution is reached, step by step, and by a path made of progress , but also from setbacks. In this case, the solution was to invent a unique method in the world that allows to determine the history of millennium olive trees. Although science and technology already have two widely used methods of tree dating (carbon-14 dating and the use of the tree ring system), the truth is that these two methods did not allow for accurate dating of ancient olive trees. This challenge was presented by the company “Oliveiras millenares” to Professor Losada, who in a true example of partnership, how the business world and the university world can earn by working together, has developed a unique and patented method.

The story of this invention is amazing, so that the voice of the inventor, stripped of vanity, opened our hearts to all of us. Science is an act of love and faith … great perseverance … and by the way, of sorts, as this professor also admitted to us, who gave us such a wonderful lesson! We are so proud that we had the honor to hear from you! Thank you dear Professor Losada, and by the way, we would also like to thank Professor João Sequera who welcomed us with great enthusiasm as Director of Espaço Miguel Torga. And we cannot forget to thank Alexandre Romancha, student of the Multimedia Technician course at 2ºB, who created a new and renewed image of the logo of the activity! We also thank you…

Team “5XCIÊNCIA AT 5”,

Department of Experimental Sciences of the Morgado de Mateus School of Education