The Past, Present, and Future of Formal Methods in Brazil

Formal methods are mathematically-based approaches with the potential to reveal hidden assumptions or overlooked requirements. Therefore, they provide means for precise specification, design, and verification of software and systems. Studying formal methods from a historical perspective preserves history, enables recognition of contributions, and investigates how local academic cultures, policies, and funding shaped their trajectories. This work fills the gap of the lack of a picture of the Brazilian formal methods community. It provides a historical narrative of this community in diverse dimensions, such as past and current research projects, research groups, teaching initiatives, and the profile of its flagship event. Through these contributions, we not only document the achievements and faced challenges, but also inspire future research and collaborations, underpinning the importance of formal methods in advancing software engineering practices in Brazil and beyond.