Early Years
Louis Slotin doing an experiment
Louis Slotin was the oldest in a family of three. He grew up in Winnipeg.
From childhood, he was a very good student, as attested by his brother Sam. During his education he won various prizes and medals. For university he went to King's College, in London England.
From childhood, he was a very good student, as attested by his brother Sam. During his education he won various prizes and medals. For university he went to King's College, in London England.
Research
Picture taken during The Louis Slotin Sonata.
After working as a research associate at the university of Chicago, Slotin became good at working with nuclear reactants. He caught the eye of leaders of the Manhattan project, a program to build and test nuclear weapons, and went to wrok at one of the project's main sites, in Los Alamos New Mexico, in December 1944.
At Los Alamos, Slotin became very good at assembling and safely testing near-critical masses of reactive materials such as uranium and plutonium (a critical mass is the amount of a fissile material required to start a self sustaining nuclear chain reaction).
At Los Alamos, Slotin became very good at assembling and safely testing near-critical masses of reactive materials such as uranium and plutonium (a critical mass is the amount of a fissile material required to start a self sustaining nuclear chain reaction).
The Accident
Reacreation of the accident scene.
After the war was over, Slotin became bored of the testing and probably thought that it was no use any more, since the war was over. He also developed a very cavalier attitude toward the dangerous substances he was working with. On May 21 1946, however, he went too far.
He was doing a fairly routine near-critical mass test, with a piece of plutonium and two half spheres of beryllium. The idea was to prevent the two beryllium spheres from touching. While they did not touch, a the plutonium would never reach criticality and not be very dangerous. However, if they touched, they would become a full neutron shield, relfect the neutrons which had escaped back to the plutonium, and reach criticality. Generally pieces of material called shims were used to keep the spheres apart, but this time, for whatever reason, Slotin used a screwdriver.
Of course the inevitable happened and the screwdriver slipped, starting a critical reaction. In just about a second Slotin had pulled up the two spheres, and knocked the plutonium to the ground, ending the reaction, but the damage had been done.
Slotin was rushed to the hospital but it was too late. After experiencing horrible gastrointestinal and other symptoms, Slotin died nine days later.
He was doing a fairly routine near-critical mass test, with a piece of plutonium and two half spheres of beryllium. The idea was to prevent the two beryllium spheres from touching. While they did not touch, a the plutonium would never reach criticality and not be very dangerous. However, if they touched, they would become a full neutron shield, relfect the neutrons which had escaped back to the plutonium, and reach criticality. Generally pieces of material called shims were used to keep the spheres apart, but this time, for whatever reason, Slotin used a screwdriver.
Of course the inevitable happened and the screwdriver slipped, starting a critical reaction. In just about a second Slotin had pulled up the two spheres, and knocked the plutonium to the ground, ending the reaction, but the damage had been done.
Slotin was rushed to the hospital but it was too late. After experiencing horrible gastrointestinal and other symptoms, Slotin died nine days later.
Aftermath
The final explosion of the Demon Core.
Controversy erupted quite quickly. Slotin was hailed as a hero by some, for his quick work in stopping the reaction, thus saving the other people in the room. By others, he was reviled as a thrill seeking idiot, for using the screwdriver in the first place. The U.S. government officially took the side that hailed him as a hero.
A play was made about Slotin called The Louis Slotin Sonata. Also, a movie called Fat Man and Little Boy was made about the Manhattan Project, and it featured a character who was a cross between Louis Slotin, and another scientist who had died of radiation sickness under similar circumstances (and with the same piece of plutonium), named Harry K. Daghlian.
The piece of plutonium which had been fatal to both Slotin and Daghlian was nicknamed the demon core, and was eventually used in a test bomb detonated near Bikini Atoll as part of the Crossroads series of bomb tests.
A play was made about Slotin called The Louis Slotin Sonata. Also, a movie called Fat Man and Little Boy was made about the Manhattan Project, and it featured a character who was a cross between Louis Slotin, and another scientist who had died of radiation sickness under similar circumstances (and with the same piece of plutonium), named Harry K. Daghlian.
The piece of plutonium which had been fatal to both Slotin and Daghlian was nicknamed the demon core, and was eventually used in a test bomb detonated near Bikini Atoll as part of the Crossroads series of bomb tests.
Sources;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin
Pictures from wikipedia and Bing Images.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin
Pictures from wikipedia and Bing Images.