Sergio Machado Rezende graduated in Electrical Engineering in Rio de Janeiro in 1963 and received the MSc (1965) and PhD (1967) degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in Electrical Engineering- Materials Science. He was one of the founders and first chairman of the Physics Department of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) (1972-1976), in Recife, where he is Emeritus Full Professor. He was twice Visiting Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara (1975-1976 and 1982-1984). He has published over 280 scientific papers in international journals on dynamic excitation phenomena in magnetic materials, magnetic nanostructures, and in spintronics, and has supervised over 40 MSc and PhD students. His scientific activities have never been interrupted by science managing positions he held, Dean of the Center for Exact Sciences of UFPE (1984-1988), Scientific Director of the Pernambuco Science Foundation (1990-1993), Secretary for Science and Technology of Pernambuco (1995-1998), President of FINEP, the main federal agency for funding of S&T in Brazil (2003-2005) and Minister for Science and Technology of Brazil (2005-2010), under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He is a member of several scientific societies, Honorary President of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), and has received several prizes and awards in Brazil and abroad.