The VI Congress of the LASHST (Buenos Aires)

In the Mexican city of Puebla, in August 1982, the First Latin American Meeting of Historians of Science took place, attended by 200 researchers who presented 120 communications for analysis, representing 16 countries. In that enthusiastic atmosphere, the constitution of the Latin American Society for the History of Science and Technology (LASHST) was agreed upon by the attendees. At the Constituent Assembly, a Latin American Council and an Executive Committee were elected to implement the bold and imaginative project that the LASHST represents and a figure of consensus to lead it emerged: Juan José Saldaña. Over the years, five Latin American congresses organized by the LASHST were held in the following venues: Havana (1985), Mexico City (1988), São Paulo (1991), Santiago de Cali (1994), and Rio de Janeiro (1998). All these congresses were characterized by camaraderie, friendship, and the sensible work of the committees examining articles. This allowed attendees to become acquainted with universities, cultural centers, libraries, magnificent buildings, as well as landscapes, culinary tastes, and customs. It is worth mentioning that these meetings had been held north of the Tropic of Capricorn. The next congress was destined for the Argentine Republic, considerably south of the American continent. One of the signatories of this article, Carlos Galles (C.G.) was elected at the Rio de Janeiro meeting as president of the LASHST. This president had been a study partner of Juan José Saldaña in Paris.