[Carlos Chagas Filho's choice of biological physics: reason and motivations].

This study investigates the reasons and motivations behind Carlos Chagas Filho's choice to abandon the line of study developed by his father, Carlos Chagas, and brother, Evandro Chagas, both of whom had very successful careers researching tropical diseases. Though Carlos Chagas Filho first worked on anatomical pathology, he suddenly shifted his attentions of the physicochemical aspects of vital processes. Extant sources show that a number of unforeseen circumstances took place from early on in Chagas Filho's education. There was a chance he could carry out work of a similar import in a different area and he set his sights, with uncommon luck, on the introduction of scientific research at university.