Maurício Oscar da Rocha e Silva (19 September 1910, Rio de Janeiro – 19 December 1983, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and pharmacologist.
In 1948, with a group of fellow scientists, such as José Reis, Paulo Sawaya and Gastão Rosenfeld, he founded the Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (SBPC – Brazilian Society of the Advancement of Science), similar in scope and philosophy to its British and American (AAAS) counterparts.
Bradykinin was detected in the plasma of animals after the addition of venom of Bothrops jararaca (Brazilian lancehead snake), which was brought by Rosenfeld from the Butantan Institute, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Hagwood, Rocha e Silva's biographer, "The discovery of bradykinin has led to a new understanding of many physiological and pathological phenomena including circulatory shock induced by venoms and toxins."
On the basis of this finding, Squibb scientists developed the first of a new generation of highly-effective anti-hypertensive drugs, the so-called ACE inhibitors, such as captopril (trademarked Capoten), which have been saving many lives since.