Simon Schwartzman had his background from the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLASCO) when he arrived at PRIO in 1964, following a military coup in his homeland, Brazil. While at PRIO, he studied issues of international networks and international stratification.

Simon Schwartzman was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1939. He obtained a PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973, and pursued his academic career in Brazil, working at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, Candido Mendes University, University of São Paulo and other places. Between 1994 and 1999 he was the president of Brazil’s national statistical office, the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística.