Post by larryc1 on Apr 21, 2020 22:03:08 GMT
Kurt Tank was a famous aeronautical designer of the Nazi regime. After the war he went to Argentina under a false passport and eventually designed a jet fighter for the Peron regime. In 1947 Tank encouraged Ronald Richter to move to Argentina to join a large number of ex-Nazi scientists. Richter, who had worked peripherally on nuclear weapons during the war, convinced Peron that Argentina could lead the world in nuclear fusion power with his 'Thermotron' device.
With a blank cheque an experimental site was constructed on Huemul Island, far from prying eyes. The site was completed in 1951 and Richter soon claimed that controlled nuclear fusion had been achieved. (It should be noted that the first fusion weapon was sucessfully detonated in late 1952.)
Subsequent investigations of Richter's work revealed that the entire scheme was fraudulent and that the Peron regime had been swindled out of millions of dollars. Richter's project was ended in 1952 and Peron was out of power in 1955. Richter was arrested for fraud and briefly jailed, then left the country. He eventually returned to Argentina where he died in 1991.
Many of the structures involved in the project are still to be seen on the island.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huemul_Project
www.wired.co.uk/article/nuclear-island
large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/allman2/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Richter
Huemul Nuclear Island -1951.kmz (1.52 KB)
With a blank cheque an experimental site was constructed on Huemul Island, far from prying eyes. The site was completed in 1951 and Richter soon claimed that controlled nuclear fusion had been achieved. (It should be noted that the first fusion weapon was sucessfully detonated in late 1952.)
Subsequent investigations of Richter's work revealed that the entire scheme was fraudulent and that the Peron regime had been swindled out of millions of dollars. Richter's project was ended in 1952 and Peron was out of power in 1955. Richter was arrested for fraud and briefly jailed, then left the country. He eventually returned to Argentina where he died in 1991.
Many of the structures involved in the project are still to be seen on the island.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huemul_Project
www.wired.co.uk/article/nuclear-island
large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/allman2/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Richter
Huemul Nuclear Island -1951.kmz (1.52 KB)
