[A biographical profile of Nelson Chaves and his contribution to nutrition in public health in Brazil].

This study focuses on the academic and intellectual career of scientist Nelson Chaves, founder of the Nutritionists School and the Institute of Nutrition at the Federal University in Pernambuco. The methodology was based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of this author's scientific production, published from 1932 to 1982. Beginning with his search for solutions to malnutrition children from the Zona da Mata region in Pernambuco, this scientist created what is commonly called the humanist-ecological paradigm of the Brazilian nutritional issue, thus contributing to the institutionalization of the field of nutrition in public health throughout Brazil.