THE ROLE OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS

Abstract

Thank you for your kindness! I am not anymore accustomed to give long talks, but let me briefly explain to you how I came to this beautiful country. First a small general remark: it is interesting to observe how attitudes, which a human being learned in his early youth, often become dominant for the rest of his life. If he learns to be obedient, he may forever depend on the opinion of the others. If one is taught to think mainly about oneself, one may remain always egotistic. If one is taught to like mainly important people, one may tend to become a politician. My parents taught me to try to solve difficult problems, which are basically important, but not yet recognized as such. Therefore, as I started to study, I did not feel attracted to fields that most friends wanted to study, like Law or Medicine. And later, doing research in Physics, I did not enter the fields of research that were in fashion, but tried to find different subjects. I worked at several University Research Institutes in Europe, the United States of America and Canada. During my stay at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, a colleague of mine participated at a conference in Mexico City and afterwards told me that two Brazilian physicists, Darcy Dillenburg and Gerhard Jacob, whom he had met there, asked him whether he could find somebody who would be helpful in building up a Physics Institute in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It would be the first Physics Institute in a region where millions of people lived. That really seemed to be a non-trivial problem that was worthwhile! My dear wife and children, already used to change and travel, agreed and our family moved to this country. Here we were warmly received by Brazilian colleagues and students, in first place Gerhard Jacob and Darcy Dillenburg, who had called me, but also Paulo Petry and Victoria Herscovitz, among