Abstract
AN address delivered at Cordoba Observatory, Argentina, by E. Gaviole, president of the Argentine Physical Association, points out that men of science are genarally agreed that within five years every major industrial country that wishes will possess at qprtc bombs, that there is no defence against surprise atomic aggression and in any such warfare both combatants will suffer unparalleled destruction in a few days. Accordingly, the object should be to avoid war; and nations should surrender a part of their sovereignty to achieve security. Commenting that the scientific workers of the southern hemisphere are in a privileged position and unlikely to be a target, Dr. Gaviole suggests that the fact that governments themselves will be exposed to attack may be a factor in avoiding war, but points out that disarmament, by putting a premium on the power that breaks agreements and arms secretly, is dangerous. He questions the practicability of international organisation in the shape of a police force, partly on the grounds of loyalties, and suggests that any international organisation of scientific workers would be rendered futile by these factors of secrecy and national loyalties. While Dr. Gaviola displays the difficulties of the situation, he appears to lose sight altogether of the favourable factors emphasized by the American report on the international control of, atomic energy, and a rather depressing and com/ placent address demonstrates the need of the moral imperative stressed in the report from the Commission appointed by the British Council of Churches.
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Nuclear Energy and its Utilization. Nature 158, 92–93 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158092e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158092e0