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{{Short description|Argentine Huemul Project scientist (1909–1991)}}
[[File:Ronald Richter y Perón.jpg|thumb|300px|Ronald Richter (left) with [[Juan Domingo Perón]] (right).]]
'''Ronald Richter''' (February 21, 1909 – September 25, 1991) was an Austrian-born German, later [[Argentine]] citizen, scientist who became infamous in connection with the Argentine [[Huemul Project]] and the [[National Atomic Energy Commission]] (CNEA). The project was intended to generate energy from [[nuclear fusion]] in the 1950s, during the presidency of [[Juan Perón]]. Richter's project would deliver, according to Perón's 1951 announcements, cheap energy in half-litre and one-litre containers.{{refn|group=note|name=Gambrini | Gambini (1999, Vol. 1, p. 398):
"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."
<Br>
Gambini (1999, Vol. 1, p. 401):
"[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 7 October 1955}}
==Nationality==
Richter was born in Falkenau an der Eger (in Czech ''Falknov nad Ohří'' renamed [[Sokolov (Sokolov District)|Sokolov]] in 1948), [[Bohemia]] (now [[Czech Republic]]) while it was part of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian]] empire. Richter was of [[German people|German]] origin. He was naturalized as an Argentine citizen in the early 1950s; President of Argentina [[Juan Perón]] overrode Argentine law to enable this.<ref>{{cite book | last = Gambini | first = Hugo | title = Historia del Peronismo | publisher = Editorial Planeta Buenos Aires | year = 1999 | pages = v.1, p.397 | isbn = 950-49-0226-X}}</ref>
==
Richter attended the [[Karl-Ferdinands-Universität|German University of Prague]], graduating in 1935. Sources provide variant narratives about his studies as a doctoral candidate.
According to
{{Quotation|Richter proposed a thesis, at the German University of Prague, to detect "delta rays" emitted from Earth. Professor {{ill|Heinrich Rausch von Traubenberg|de}} did not agree with the project. The "young genius" went to work somewhere else and graduated in a different field.|Santos Mayo|Letter to [[Physics Today]], March 2004<ref>{{cite web | last = Mayo | first = Santos | title = More on the Value of Ronald Richter's Work | publisher = [[Physics Today]] |date=March 2004 | url = http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_57/iss_3/14_1.shtml | accessdate = 2008-05-11}}</ref>}}
{{Quotation|...when I was Prof. Furth's assistant 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 mysterious 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 to convince him (if we really did) that the "evidence" cited was spurious.
His thesis was not published.|[[Kurt Sitte]]|Mariscotti, 1985, quoting Alemann, 1955<ref>{{cite book | last = Mariscotti | first = Mario J. | title = El secreto atómico de Huemul... | publisher = Editorial Planeta | year = 1985 | ___location = Buenos Aires | isbn = 950-37-0109-0 | page = 208}}</ref>}}
==
===Europe===
Richter worked in Germany, England and France.
In preparing his dissertation for a doctorate from the University of Prague, Richter worked at Falkenau Chemiewerke in his home town of Falkenau an der Eger (now known as [[Sokolov, Czech Republic|Sokolov]]) in the Czech Republic. There he went to work with electric arc furnaces looking to develop accurate methods for measurement and control of temperatures. Richter discovered that the injection of heavy hydrogen ([[deuterium]]) caused a nuclear reaction which he could measure and gauge with Geiger counters.
Following the end of [[World War II]], his only known jobs were a six-month stint working on explosives and a few commercial contracts.<ref name=roederer>{{cite web | last = Roederer | first = Juan G. | title = Early Cosmic-Ray Research in Argentina | publisher = [[Physics Today]] |date=January 2003 | url = http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_56/iss_1/32_1.shtml | accessdate = 2008-05-11}} See section titled "The Argentine scientist Richter"</ref><ref name="Mariscotti, 1985">Mariscotti, 1985</ref> He met the aeronautical engineer [[Kurt Tank]] in London; Tank later emigrated to Argentina, hired by Perón's government under the pseudonym of Pedro Matthies.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Archief|url = http://www.groene.nl/2002/0205/rz_bariloch.html|website = De Groene Amsterdammer|access-date = 2016-01-19}}</ref>
===Argentina===
On the recommendation of Kurt Tank in 1947, Richter was invited to Argentina to develop a nuclear program for General [[Juan Perón]]. He learned that a German fusion reactor had been smuggled to Argentina and Perón desperately needed an expert able to bring the device back to life. Richter brought knowledge of German particle accelerator technology and was received by the German industrialist and [[Nazi]] spy [[August Siebrecht]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soberaniachile.cl/peron.html |title=Peron, Lonardi y el Escandalo de Espionaje Antichileno de 1938 |accessdate=2006-03-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051225081420/http://www.soberaniachile.cl/peron.html |archive-date=2005-12-25 }}</ref><ref>Gambini 1999, v. 1, p. 396.</ref> Siebrecht took Richter to [[Córdoba, Argentina|Córdoba]], where Tank was developing aircraft. Tank was interested in Richter's proposal to use nuclear energy for aircraft propulsion. Richter continued to address Tank as Prof. Dr. Pedro Matthies in his correspondence about the Huemul Project.<ref name="Mariscotti, 1985"/>
In 1949 Perón hired Richter, who had convinced him that he could produce controlled nuclear fusion using cheap materials in a process that could supply enormous quantities of cheap energy, a program that eventually became known as the [[Huemul Project]]. Perón's reasons for backing Richter were in line with the ideology of modernization underlying his concept of the "New Argentina"; he was not interested in the military applications of atomic energy, but saw it as a way to expand iron and steel production.<ref name=cabral>{{Cite journal | last = Cabral | first = Regis | author-link = Regis Cabral | editor-last = Saldana | editor-first = J. J. | title = The Peron–Richter Fusion Program, 1948–1952 | journal = Cross Cultural Diffusion of Science: Latin America | issue = 2 | pages = 77–106 | publisher = Sociedad Latino Americana de Historia de las Ciencias y la Tecnologia | ___location = Mexico | year = 1988 }}</ref>
Perón believed that any project undertaken by a Nazi German scientist was bound to be successful. Due to his political disagreements with Argentine scientists of stature, such as [[Enrique Gaviola]], Perón was reluctant to seek their advice on Richter's proposal, and he gave Richter carte blanche and appointed him as his personal representative in the [[Bariloche]] area. The total cost of the project was estimated at [[US$]]300 million (2003 value).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stills.nap.edu/html/biomems/lfalicov.html |title=Leopoldo Máximo Falicov, June 24, 1933–January 24, 1995 | by Manuel Cardona, Marvin L. Cohen, and Steven G. Louie | Biographical Memoirs |accessdate=2008-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050208021620/http://stills.nap.edu/html/biomems/lfalicov.html |archive-date=2005-02-08 }}</ref> <!--as quoted in Falicov's biography: National Academy of Sciences: Biographical Memoirs, VOL 83, 2003, THE NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.-->
<!--<ref name=falicov>{{cite book | last = Cardona | first = Manuel | coauthors = Marvin L. Cohen, Steven G. Louie | title = LEOPOLDO MAXIMO FALICOV | url = http://cabbib2.cnea.gov.ar/fali/Falicov1.pdf | page = 8 }}</ref>-->
In 1951 Richter announced that he had achieved controlled nuclear fusion under laboratory conditions, a claim later proven false: it transpired that Richer had simply exploded hydrogen in an electric arc.<ref name=cabral/>
After it became evident that Richter's project was spurious, Perón appointed a technical committee which included José Balseiro, a former faculty member at the [[La Plata Institute of Physics]], which was to report directly to him whether Richter's project should be discontinued. The committee analyzed Richter's work and concluded that the actual temperature reached in his experiments was far too low to produce a true thermonuclear reaction. They reported their findings to Perón in September 1952; soon after that project was terminated.<ref name=roederer/>
After the termination of the project, Richter appears to have spent periods of time abroad, including some time in Libya. Eventually he returned to Argentina, where he died in 1991; a short announcement of his death appeared in an obituary published by ''Microsemanario''.<ref>{{Cite journal | title = Richter: De La Fusion Nuclear Al Olivido | journal = Microsemanario | volume = 2 | issue = 43 | date = November–December 1991 |publisher=Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales – UBA| url = http://www.fcen.uba.ar/prensa/micro/1991/ms43.htm }}</ref>
===Project Huemul: reactions and aftermath===
On 24 March 1951 Perón announced to the international press "Argentina Produces Atomic Energy", and later decorated Richter with the Peronista Medal. Following international publicity and claims, scientists in Britain were hesitant to accept the claims of the unknown Richter without corroboration. In the US, the press discounted reports of Richter's work, but secretly the government started funding two projects, Sherwood and Matterhorn. An intelligence assessment by the US, later declassified, stated that he could possibly be a "mad genius [...], thinking in the year 1970."<ref name=NewYorker>{{cite magazine|last1=Khatchadourian|first1=Raffi|title=A Star in a Bottle|magazine=The New Yorker|date=March 3, 2014|issue=March 2014|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/03/a-star-in-a-bottle|accessdate=9 November 2015}}</ref> However, it soon became evident that the claims were spurious, and interest dried up. After Perón was deposed, the new government investigated Richter regarding 1,000 million Argentine pesos (about £25 million at the time) allocated to the project and unaccounted for, and arrested him. Nothing further was heard about him. Secret British government documents declassified under the [[30-year rule]] in 1983 report that Perón had contemplated invading the [[Falkland Islands]] in 1951, possibly due to his confidence that Argentina would be the first country to exploit atomic energy for industrial purposes.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ASbEHcRgGosC&dq=peron+%22atom+bomb%22+richter&pg=PA322 New Scientist, 3 February 1983, p. 322]</ref>
== Biographical publications==
The following are quotations from books and articles published by journalists, biographers, physicists, and historians, with sources below:
From ''Eva Perón'' ([[Alicia Dujovne Ortiz]], 1996):
{{Quotation|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 – except Perón, who for once was very serious. Evita would say, "The General is very naive." Needless to say, nothing came of this endeavor.
|Dujovne Ortiz, 1996<ref>{{cite book | last = Dujovne Ortiz| first = Alicia | author-link = Alicia Dujovne Ortiz| title = Eva Perón | publisher = [[St. Martin's Press]] | year = 1996 | isbn = 0-312-14599-3}}</ref>}}
From [[Juan Gualterio Roederer|Juan G. Roederer]] (2003):
{{Quotation|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 – a risky move because of Perón's initial blind support of Richter.... Perón startled the world with his announcement that "the Argentine scientist Richter" – who couldn't speak a word of Spanish – 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.|Juan G. Roederer, 2003<ref>Roederer, 2003</ref>}}
==''Richter, The Opera: A Musical Documentary''==
Ronald Richter inspired an opera, ''Richter: Ópera Documental de Cámara'', by Mario Lorenzo and Esteban Buch, with references to the ''spectacular experiments''. It has been performed both in Argentina ([[Teatro Colón]]) and in France ([[Théâtre Paris-Villette]]).
The plot develops poetically framed between the ever-present Patagonian winds of the ''[[roaring forties]]'' and the recurrent breaking of the waves of the lake on the shores of the island... until the peace is shattered by German utterances and acoustic bangs.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050301211713/http://operayre.com.ar/criticas/2003/richter/richter.htm Summary and critique]. Casullo, Eduardo. ''La Aventura de la Isla de la Mula: Richter.''
<!--*[http://www.richter.fr.st/ Full version in Spanish]-->
*[http://www.theatre-musique.com/spectacles/spe-richter.htm Spectacles]. ''Richter: Opéra documentaire de Mario Lorenzo''.
== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{reflist}}
== References ==
* Alemann, Peter (1955). ''Esto Es'', last week of October 1955.
* Confalonieri, Orestes D. (1956). ''Peron contra Peron,'' Editorial Antygua, Buenos Aires.
* [[Tomás Eloy Martínez|Eloy Martínez, Tomas]] (1996). ''Las Memorias del General.'' Editorial Planeta, Buenos Aires. {{ISBN|950-742-697-3}}. See translated excerpt, below.
*{{cite book | last = Gambini | first = Hugo | title = Historia del Peronismo | publisher = Editorial Planeta Buenos Aires | year = 1999 | isbn = 950-49-0226-X}}
*{{Cite book
| publisher = Adventures Unlimited Press
| isbn = 978-1-931882-93-4
| last = Farrell
| first = Joseph P.
| title = Nazi International: The Nazis' Postwar Plan to Control the Worlds of Science, Finance, Space, and Conflict
| year = 2009
}} Extensive discussion in Chapter 10.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Ronald}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Sokolov]]
[[Category:German Bohemian people]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian scientists]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of Argentina]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to Argentina]]
[[Category:Argentine nuclear physicists]]
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