Physics in South America

South America is a continent in which there are ten independent countries with full national sovereignty, and three small colonies of European powers. The independent countries range in size from tiny Uruguay, smaller than the state of Minnesota, to its huge neighbor Brazil, which is larger than the United States. As one might expect, there is a wide variation in the number and quality of the educational institutions dispensing instruction and engaging in research in physics. As there are no universities teaching physics in the three Guianas, we shall omit these colonies from the account that follows.