Discorso E.Fermi (1954)

Uranium is the raw material of the atomic era. It is believed that the deposits of uranium, now known in the world, will be able to provide us with enough energy for several thousand years. Energy that will be available to all the peoples of the Earth. Because the atom is international, no nation or group of nations holds the monopoly of uranium or the monopoly of atomic science or the monopoly of atomic plants. The atomic era emerged as a result of the studies of various scientists in Italy, France, England, the United States, Denmark, Germany and other countries. And the spirit of cooperation continues in today's world, as demonstrated by the Commission for Nuclear Energy Research between Norway and Holland, based in Oslo, and the European Council for Nuclear Research in Geneva, which focuses the research and scientific knowledge of the various European countries that join it. They work together following a coordinated research plan and using equipment that no nation alone would be able to provide. The results of this research will be made available to everyone. For example, the radioactive isotopes produced in England, in the United States, in Canada and elsewhere, are used today all over the world, in hospitals, in the industry, in agriculture, in the most disparate places, such as Finland or New Zealand. The development of atomic energy plants is becoming a reality in an ever-increasing number of countries. The supply of isotopes is increasing day by day. Only from Oak Ridge in the United States, for example, the supply of isotopes jumped from 1,900 in 1947 to more than 11,000 in 1953. The atomic era is only 12 years old. And we are only at the beginning. We are just at the threshold of the benefits that will come from the work of hundreds of thousands of scientists and workers in the atomic field.