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"[...] In his left hand he held another beryllium hemisphere, with his thumb reaching into a hole in the top, and using a screwdriver as leverage, he carefully lowered the top hemisphere over the core. As he did so, the neutrons exiting the core began to reflect back into it, increasing the overall reactivity of the system.
And then… the screwdriver slipped. The top hemisphere slid over the plutonium, and it tipped just slightly over the edge of prompt criticality, creating a brief but intense nuclear reaction that showered Slotin and those around him with radiation and created a brief flash of blue light in the air around them. In less than a second, Slotin had reflexively knocked the top hemisphere off, and the reaction had stopped, but it was too late: he was walking dead, having absorbed enough radiation to kill him horribly and painfully within nine days.[...]"
Check out the story about this death accident and how it became a meme over the years. 0 reply
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