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The core of the device used in the Trinity Test at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range in July did not have such a ring. [1] [2] The two physicists Harry Daghlian (center left) and Louis Slotin (center right) during the Trinity Test. Both died following supercritical accidents involving the "demon core."
Louis Alexander Slotin (/ ˈ s l oʊ t ɪ n / SLOHT-in; [1] 1 December 1910 – 30 May 1946) was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project.Born and raised in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Slotin earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Manitoba, before obtaining his doctorate in physical chemistry at King's ...
Louis Slotin, a colleague of Daghlian's, was killed in 1946 while performing criticality tests on the same plutonium core. [6] After these two incidents it became known as the "demon core", [11] and all similar criticality experiments were halted until remote-controlled assembly devices were more fully developed and available. [10]
Louis Slotin: 30 May 1946: The 35-year-old Canadian physicist and Manhattan Project scientist died as the result of an accident while performing an experiment called "tickling the dragon's tail" with a plutonium core which came to be known as the "demon core". His screwdriver slipped, exposing him to a fatal dose of radiation.
Slotin quickly disassembled the device, likely sparing others in the room from lethal exposure, but Slotin himself died of radiation poisoning nine days later. The demon core was melted down and the material was reused in other bomb tests in subsequent years. [10] 8: 1 [11] [12] 1954: Los Alamos
Contrary to Merriman's death in the movie, Slotin's accident and death occurred after the dropping of the two bombs on Japan, and his early death was feared by some as karma after the event. [4] A very similar mishap happened less than two weeks after the Nagasaki bomb, claiming the life of Harry Daghlian. Both incidents occurred with the same ...
Louis Slotin: 1946, May 21 Criticality accident at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico with same plutonium bomb core as the Daghlian accident, known as the "demon core". 1 Harry Daghlian: 1945, August 21 Criticality accident at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico with a plutonium bomb core, known as the "demon core". 1
Slotin had become the victim of the second criticality accident in history following Harry Daghlian, who had been fatally exposed to radiation by the same plutonium "demon core" that killed Slotin. Slotin was hailed as a hero by the United States government for reacting quickly enough to prevent the deaths of his colleagues.