Manuel Nicolás Aristóbulo Savio (

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, 15 March 1893 – Buenos Aires, 31 July 1948) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

engineer and military man, noted for his contribution to Argentine

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

in his roles as general manager of Fabricaciones Militares and SOMISA.

Biography

Savio enrolled in the Military Academy ( Colegio Militar de la Nación) on 3 March 1909, and graduated as second lieutenant in 1910. He graduated as military engineer in 1931, and was promoted to colonel in 1936, brigadier-general in 1942 and full general in 1946. Under Savio's auspices, the Higher Technical School ("Escuela Superior Técnica") was created in 1930, open to members of all armed services. Even though the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

of September 1930 ousted and prosecuted General Enrique Mosconi, a pioneer of the Argentine

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

industry, Savio was given free rein to pursue his projects. In time, Savio came to be perceived as Mosconi's rightful successor as the prime force behind Argentina's industrial progress.''La mística militar-industrial. El general Manuel Savio y el día de la Siderurgia nacional''
Savio authored law number 12.709 in 1941 (under President Roberto Ortiz creating the General Directorate of Military Works ("Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares", or DGFM) and was made its general manager. In this role, Savio was a main force in the erection of the Zapla Ironworks ( Altos Hornos Zapla) in

Jujuy Province Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south. Geography There are three main areas in Jujuy ...

, next to rich

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

deposits. From his post in DGFM, Savio also provided strong support for heavy

chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, the chemical industry converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, ...

. The Río Tercero, José de la Quintana, and Tucumán plants were created under his watch. Savio established links to mechanical industries, and he supported Argentina's drive towards

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

self-sufficiency. Savio also drafted plans for production of natural and synthetic

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

, and bills for ensuring the protection of

raw materials A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials/Intermediate goods that are feedstock for future finished ...

. The National Metallurgy Plan (law 12.987, year 1947, under President Juan Domingo Perón), which became known as the "Savio plan". That plan created SOMISA (Sociedad Mixta Siderúrgica Argentina), a mixed-capital society for the production of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

; Savio was SOMISA's first president. Savio died in 1948, and many of his projects were halted. His main metallurgy plan was implemented long after his death by President

Arturo Frondizi Arturo Frondizi Ércoli (Paso de los Libres, October 28, 1908 – Buenos Aires, April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher, statesman, and politician. He was elected president of Argentina and governed from May ...

in 1958 with the establishment of the Punta Argerich plant (near

Ramallo, Buenos Aires Ramallo is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative centre for Ramallo Partido. It is located on the Río Paraná. Economy The city has an important port on the Paraná River The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river ...

), which was later named after Savio. General Savio is honored in Argentina as a pioneer of industry. Many technical schools, industrial complexes and places are named after him. In particular, many landmarks carry Savio's name in and around the metallurgy belt centered in

Villa Constitución Villa Constitución is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the head town of the Constitución Department. It is located on the south-western banks of the Paraná River between the courses of the Arroyo Pavón and the Arroyo del M ...

, Santa Fe.

Works by Savio

* Industrial Movilization (''Movilización industrial'', 1933) * Argentine Steel Policy (''Política Argentina del acero'', 1942) * Policy of Argentine Metalworking Production (''Política de la producción metalúrgica Argentina'', 1944) * Fundamentals of the Military Works law (''Conceptos que fundamentaron el proyecto de la ley de Fabricaciones militares'', 1944).

Biography

* Larra, Raúl (1992). The Argentine who forged steel (''El argentino que forjó el acero''). Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de America Latina. .

External links

Libre Opinion article

Portrait of General Savio

Notes

''This article incorporates content from Spanish wikipedia as of 26 Jan 2009'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Savio, Manuel 1892 births 1948 deaths Military personnel from Buenos Aires Argentine military engineers Argentine generals Argentine Army personnel 20th-century Argentine engineers