Huemul Island

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Nicolas Krause
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Huemul Island

Post by Nicolas Krause »

I thought this would be of interest to the forum, I recently took a trip down to Argentina where I spent some time in Bariloche. The photos below are of Huemul Island, where in 1951 an Austrian physicist by the name of Ronald Richter claimed he'd achieved fusion. Of course the whole thing was made up and it all came crashing down. I would have loved to have visited the island and toured the ruins of the facility, but unfortunately it's close to public access.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by Richard Hull »

Reminds me of the British Zeta fusion flap about the same time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZETA_(fusion_reactor)

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Roberto Ferrari
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by Roberto Ferrari »

Hi Nicolas

It's good to know about your visit and what a pity not to have known about it in advance, I could put you in touch with people from the Bariloche Atomic Center, where some of the huge inductors used by Richter are on display.
About this episode, there is a very good book, excellently documented, by Dr Mario Mariscotti, "El secreto de la isla Huemul", as far as I know, there is no English edition.
Roberto
William Turner
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by William Turner »

Roberto Ferrari
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by Roberto Ferrari »

Hi William

thanks for your post.
I realized I quoted wrongly the book. The title is "El secreto atómico de Huemul".
William Turner
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by William Turner »

Thank you Roberto for telling me about the book!

From page 244
The most significant opinions were those of Bàncora and Balseiro,
Bàncora reproduced a detailed survey of the circuit used
used by Richter and reported that in his laboratory at the University
de Rosario had been able to reproduce the experiences carried out in
Bariloche without using, of course, none of the ingredients for a
thermonuclear reaction, such as lithium or hydrogen. In essence, the
Richter circuit was nothing more than the traditional configuration of the
first transmitters of electromagnetic waves used by Hertz,
Marconi, Dudell, and many others since the last century, consisting of
a capacitor, a reactance, and an arc connected in series, and the
arc, in turn, connected to a variable electromotive source. This is
an oscillating circuit that acts as a source of electromagnetic waves
tics. Bàncora affirmed that these electromagnetic waves -not the
gamma rays from thermonuclear reactions—were responsible
for the signals that accused the badly calibrated meters
from Huemul Island.

For his part, Balseiro quantitatively showed that for
obtain only one percent of the atoms with velocities
enough for them to merge with each other—this was half of the ones that
Richter argued that they were sufficient—it was still necessary to achieve
temperatures of 40 million degrees, that is to say, ten thousand times
superior to those obtainable by means of an electric arc such as the one
they saw in Huemul.
The moral of the story is to shield your charge-sensitive amplifiers ... =)
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Nicolas Krause
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by Nicolas Krause »

Hi Roberto,

I'll have to contact you in advance the next time I head down! I had checked the website for the center but had read they were closed for tours due to concerns with Covid and didn't think to ask on the forum here. Argentina was really wonderful, the food of course was excellent, Buenos Aires is a gorgeous city, and Bariloche is very pretty. There are a lot of hikes I've added to my list that I'd like to do down there!
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Richard Hull
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by Richard Hull »

Shades of Farnsworth's self-delusion in 1960-61 time frame. Bad nuclear metrology by people who had not a clue. Wanted to believe they had made it for sure, this time. Just look at that meter needle!!

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Roberto Ferrari
Posts: 364
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 12:21 pm
Real name: Roberto Ferrari
Location: Argentina
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Re: Huemul Island

Post by Roberto Ferrari »

Hi Nicolas, William, Richard

Any info from here you could need, just let me know.
Best
Roberto
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