  This article shows the importance that has had the scientific research, the
technological development and the innovation processes in increasing the
lethality of the available weapons during the last century. A set of
initiatives promoted by the scientific community to stop the nuclear arms race
that threatened the continuation of life on the planet is described. At this
point, a thorough survey of the texts and proposals of Hippocratic Oaths for
Scientists presented at different epochs is made. It is observed that the
interest in linking ethical aspects with science and technology issues shows an
exponential growth behavior since the Second World War. It is shown how the
several proposals of oaths and ethical commitments for scientists, engineers
and technologists are disseminated following a logistic growth behavior, in the
same manner as a disembodied technology in a particular niche. The data
analysis shows that there is a coincidence between the maximum rate of
proposals and the historical moment at which the world had deployed the largest
number of nuclear warheads (70,586) as well as the largest world military
expenditures in history (USD 1,485,000,000,000). Subsequently, the origin of
the Hippocratic Oath for Scientists used for more than two decades in
graduation ceremonies at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the
University of Buenos Aires is analyzed and linked with the historical
circumstances of its birth.
