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Ronald Richter (1909-1991) was an Austrian, later Argentinian, scientist who became famous in connection with the Huemul Project. This was intended to generate energy from nuclear fusion in the 1950s in Argentina, during the regime of Juan Perón. Richter's project would deliver &mdash; according to Perón's 1951 announcements &mdash; cheap energy in containers of two sizes: half liter and one liter, not unlike the milk bottles then in use. See Gambini (1999), Eloy Martínez (1996), and Nuñez and Orione (1995); the relevant paragraphs are shown translated in the Appendix, below.

Vitae
Due to the lack of an official version of Richter's curriculum vitae, data relevant to his nationality, academic credentials, and work and research achievements have been gleaned from a diversity of sources.

Birth
Of German origin, Richter was born in Falkenau an der Eger during the Austrian rule of the Czech Sudetenland (now Czech Republic). The locality was known until 1948, in Czech, as Falknov nad Ohří; renamed since then as Sokolov.

Different sources attribute to Richter either Austrian or German nationality. Eventually he was naturalized Argentine. This last nationality was acquired when President Juan Perón overrode Argentine law (Gambini, 1999, v.1, p.397).

Studies
Richter attended the German University of Prague. Different sources provide variant narratives about his studies and behavior as a doctoral candidate.

According to Gambini (1999, v.1, p.396), Richter was awarded a doctorate in natural sciences in 1955. [However, another source claims that he was not awarded a doctoral degree because he had misinterpreted his research results. He had concluded that he had discovered delta rays being emitted by the earth, but in fact he had been detecting X-rays scattered by the ground.

According to his recollection, Mayo (2004) had personally heard Richard Gans say: Richter proposed a thesis, at the German University of Prague, to detect "delta rays" emitted from Earth. Professor Heinrich Rausch von Trautenberg did not agree with the project. The "young genius" went to work somewhere else and graduated in a different field.

Kurt Sitte's recollections of Richter's research under Prof. Furth differed. He recalls (Mariscotti, 1985, p.277-8): ...when I was Prof. Furth's assistent in the Department of Experimental Physics [of Prague University], [Richter] came to interest us in a fantastic project. He had read (not in a scientific journal, of course) about the discovery of a misterious radiation, the "earth rays", that radiated from the interior of the Earth and caused a huge type of fabulous effects. These were what he wanted to research. He was very excited with the idea, and it was very difficult ot convince him (if we really did) that the "evidence" cited was spurious. His thesis was not published (Mariscotti, 1985, p.208, quoting Alemann, 1955)

According to Newton (1992; 1995, p.448): . . . [Richter] pretended to have a physicist degree from the University of Prague.

Honors
About one month after the famous announcement, Richter was the object of a ceremony at the Casa Rosada, siege of the Argentine government. Richter was awarded on March 28, 1951, both a doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Buenos Aires and the Peronist Medal (Nuñez and Orione, 1995, p.118).

Europe
During work he did in Germany in the period 1939-1943 he met Kurt Tank, an aeronautical engineer who later emigrated to Argentina, hired by Perón's government under the cover name of Pedro Matthies. Richter's only known jobs of scientific or technological character, between the end of WWII and his arrival in Argentina, were a six-month stint working on explosives and a few commercial contracts (Roederer, 2003; Mariscotti, 1985).

Argentina
Recommended to Perón by Kurt Tank, Richter moved to Argentina and was received, according to Gambini (1999, v.1, p.396), by the German industrialist August Siebrecht, ex-nazi spy. He took Richter to Cordoba, where Kurt Tank was developing aircraft. Perón had hired Kurt Tank to design and produce airplanes and Tank was interested in Richter's proposal of using nuclear energy to propel the aircraft. When a short time later Richter was introduced to Perón he proposed him the program that eventually became known as the Huemul Project: production of energy by means of controlled nuclear fusion reactions. A complete description is given in the article Huemul Project. Richter continued to address Tank as Prof. Dr. Pedro Matthies in his correspondence about the Huemul Project

Death
After the termination of the Huemul Project in 1952, Richter appears to have spent periods of time abroad. Eventually he returned to Argentina where he died in 1991. A terse announcement of Richter's death appeared in an obituary published by Microsemanario (1991).

Portrait
An emergent characterization of Ronald Richter continues to evolve throughout the examination of multiple sources that describe and/or comment on Richter and his project. Due to Richter's close association with Juan Perón and Eva Perón and the relevance of nuclear physics for the international scene, the sources cover a wide spectrum. They range from works about the Argentine regime of the time to international evaluations of the Huemul Project in the context of the Cold War and its aftermath. As no Richter's curriculum vitae was found, the initial search begun by the Argentine physicists ________ and ________ reviewing citation abstracts in _________. They found ____________.

Testimonials
The following are quotations from books and articles published since then by journalists, biographers, physicists, and historians. Their respective sources are fully referenced below:

From Ardenne (1990), quoted by Mariscotti (1986, p.278-9): I definitely had, with this fellow [Richter], bad experiencies and I had to dismiss him very early despite the lack of staff due to the war. Fantasy and scientific reality mixed so much in him that one could not trust the result of his work. . . already in 1943 I had heard Richter's idea of converting light nuclei into helium using high intensity discharges in gases. . . [i.e., in the correct direction, but his actions], unworthy of a scientist, consisted of exposing theoretical speculations as real facts and by means of false representations of a situation obtain support for his experimental work. From a British Scientific Officer (1946-1947), quoted by Stanley (2004, p.220-1): I was. . . not impressed by the practical value of his work. . . He seemed to be skating over some pretty thin ice at times. . . his various German contacts did not seem to be showing any interest on him. . . Richter is very anxious to build his special type of electron microscope and, if anyone is pursuing the matter with him, they will have to be prepared to give him a considerable amount of labour, space and money for the purpose.

From Mariscotti (1990): . . . Peron confided to newsmen that "in half an hour he explained to me all the secrets of nuclear physics and he did it so well that now I have a pretty good idea of the subject."

This reactor, the most spectacular undertakings in the island. . . illustrated Richter's "science-fiction" style and his total lack of respect for planning.

From Teller (ca 1956) as told to Dean (ca 1956), quoted by Mariscotti (1986, p.278) as heard from Qhihillalt: . . . reading one of Richter's lines one thinks he is a genius. Reading the next line, one sees that he is crazy.

From Dujovne Ortiz (1996): This German “scientist” had succeeded in convincing Perón that he was capable of producing atomic energy. Perón had an atomic plant built for him. . . The country lacked cement to build homes, yet tons of mortar were shuttled to Huemul. With his raincoat and his tousled hair, Richter looked like a mad scientist, and he made everyone laugh &mdash; except Perón, who for once was very serious. Evita would say, “The General is very naive.” Needless to say, nothing came of this endeavor.

From Roederer (2003): That fusion energy project, conceived and directed by Austrian physicist and con artist Ronald Richter, was being developed in absolute secrecy on Isla Huemul. . . some high-level members of Perón's entourage had serious doubts about Richter's sincerity and the soundness of his ideas. The doubters discreetly sought the advice of scientists from advanced countries &mdash; a risky move because of Perón's initial blind support of Richter. . . Perón startled the world with his announcement that "the Argentine scientist Richter" &mdash; who couldn't speak a word of Spanish &mdash; had achieved the controlled release of nuclear-fusion energy. Not one real Argentine physicist was participating in the Huemul project, and not one in the entire country believed in the truth of Perón's announcement.

From Winterberg (2003): Ronald Richter, Genius or Nut?

From Luzuriaga (2005) This implies that [Richter] acted under his own delusions...

From Cardona, Cohen, and Louie (2003): It will probably never be known whether Richter was a misguided visionary or a fraudulent crook (or a combination thereof).

From Bromberg (1982): . . . Richter, a mediocre German scientist who had come to [Peron] with a scheme for fusion power

From Garzón Valdés (2000): . . .it might have been that Richter was "overflowing with ideas," Meding (1995 but I fail to see in him an [equal to the famous naturalist] German Burmeister . ..

From Ehrenberg (____):

From Nuñez and Orione (1995, p.122): [with the] exception of Perón and his courtiers, none of the government officials that approached Richter had any doubts about the mental and emotional instability of the German "savant".

Richter: the Opera
Richter inspired an operatic synthesis of the aspects that characterized him and his project. Their passionate and erratic aspects are intertwined in an opera together with an artistic rendition of the spectacular experiments.

The opera has been performed both in Argentina (Teatro Colón) and in France (Théâtre Paris-Villete). Authored by Mario Lorenzo and Esteban Buch, its title is Richter: Ópera Documental de Cámara. The plot develops poetically framed between the ever present Patagonian winds of the roaring forties and the recurrent breaking of the waves on the shores of the island. . . until the peace is shattered by German utterances and acoustic booms and bangs.

See:


 * Summary and critique. Casullo, Eduardo. La Aventura de la Isla de la Mula: Richter. (Spanish)


 * Spectacles. Richter: Opéra documentaire de Mario Lorenzo. (French)

Translated excerpts
"While in a state of delirious enthusiasm [Perón] said [just] anything --recalled Richter-- and ventured to prognosticate that I would obtain for him bottled electric energy. As a consequence of those exaggerations the plan to expand the CADE [main source of electric power for the greater Buenos Aires] was dropped, giving rise to an energy setback."
 * From Gambini (1999, Vol.1, p.398):

"[From t]he writer Tomás Eloy Martínez (1996, p.182): ...Perón] was clumsy in announcing the false finding in a resounding manner, assuring that from that moment Argentina would sell nuclear energy for domestic use in bottles of one litre and half a litre. Naturally, this caused what in Argentina has been known [since then as] a 'historical embarrassment.'" NOTE: Eloy Martinez cites the origin of his quotation to be Confalonieri (1956, p.214) who took it from its original source: the newspaper Clarin, Buenos Aires, issue of October 7, 1955.
 * From Gambini (1999, Vol.1, p.401):
 * From Nuñez and Orione (1995, p.119):

Richter's case: bottled atomic energy:. . . Perón announced that. . . housewives would get atomic energy at their doorsteps, as the daily delivery of milk bottles. This naive statement carried to the extreme the ironic aspects. . . into history as "Richter's case".

