THE FOUNDATION OF THE CENTER OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS IN TRIESTE, ITALY (1964) AND THE PARTICIPATION OF MANUEL SANDOVAL VALLARTA

Abstract

In the framework of the policy of transfer of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, the International Agency of Atomic Energy (IAEA), an institution created by the Organization of the United Nations (UN) in 1956, has the authority to establish research centres and teaching. These institutions aim to train researchers specialized in nuclear physics. The origin of the fellows, must be, from the considered of peripheral countries. In the decade of the sixties of the 20th century, most came from the developing countries. In many cases, such as the India and Pakistan, students outperformed the teachers and now those States are generators of new technology. One of the most famous centres that participated in the formation of human resources for non-developed economies had been the Centre of Theoretical Physics in Trieste (ICTP). In this article we will discuss, using the documents in Manuel Sandoval Vallarta’s archive, a Mexican physicist, the reasons for its foundation, the planning and creation of the ICTP, and its works between 1965 and 1968. This analysis will allow us to establish how was this technology transfer through the ICTP, the possibilities of the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and the effects that the training of human resources in the Centre had in the States of origin of fellows.