Those were the interesting days. Another Nucleonics article, in July 1950, says this about the other South American powerhouse:
Argentina’s president Juan D. Peron, in a decree published last month, created a national atomic energy commission. The decree places the commission in charge of nuclear research in Argentina, with powers to supervise all public and private research. The commission also will propose means of defense against atomic warfare and of harnessing atomic energy for peaceful use. All persons engaged in atomic research in Argentina were ordered to report to the commission immediately. Argentina is the first South American country to set up such a body.
Why the “report in” command? Presumably because the president was in the process of obliterating the fraudulent nuclear fusion efforts of Ronald Richter (pictured below, on the left, with Peron on the right, the standard Wikipedia image) that so embarrassed the nation. There must be something fascinating in this tale but I just find it tawdry and only accord it a brief mention in my book.
