Josué Apolonio de Castro

Born Sept. 5, 1908, in Recife, state of Pernambuco. Progressive Brazilian scientist, physiologist, anthropologist, and hygienist; foreign member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1963).

Castro graduated from the faculties of medicine (1929) and of philosophy (1938) of the Brazilian University and became a professor of anthropology there in 1936, a professor of philosophy in 1939, and director of the institute of nutrition in 1946. He was made chairman of the Executive Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN in 1951. Castro is president of the World Association of Struggle against Hunger and president of the International Medical Association for the Study of Living Conditions and Health. He was a member of the Brazilian Parliament from 1955 to 1963.

Castro is the author of works on anthropology, physiology, and problems of consumption, including the world-famous book The Geography of Hunger (1946; Russian translation, 1954), in which he sharply criticizes the modern Malthusians and concludes that the basic reason for widespread starvation is “the imperialistic exploitation of man and the earth.” He shows the necessity of an essential solution to the problem of starvation through radical changes in agricultural relations in the capitalist countries and the destruction of the remnants of feudalism and the consequences of neocolonialism in the developing countries. Castro received the International Peace Prize in 1955.