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Early Life of Louis Slotin
Jewish-Canadian Physicist and Chemist Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada who is the oldest of 3 Entered University at the age of 16 -
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Academic
1932-1933 - Received his Bachelors of Science (1932) and Masters of Science (1933) at the University of Manitoba
1936 - Received Doctorate in Physical Chemistry at King’s College London, won an award for his thesis: "An Investigation into the Intermediate Formation of Unstable Molecules During some Chemical Reactions."
1937 - Gained experience in nuclear chemistry as a research associate at the University of Chicago where he built the first cyclotron in the midwestern United States. -
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Success as a Scientist
1937 - Became a research associate at the University of Chicago where he gained experience in nuclear chemistry
- Built the first cyclotron in the midwestern US
1939-1940 - Collaborated with Earl Evans, Head of University’s Biochemistry department where they used carbon-11 to demonstrate that plant cells had the capacity to use carbon dioxide for carbohydrate synthesis, through carbon fixation -
First Nuclear Bomb
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Manhattan Project!
2942 - Invited to join the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico
- Job was to perform criticality testing to test for critical mass values of fissile materials and performed experiments with uranium and plutonium core to determine critical mass values
- Lead to the use of a plutonium core in criticality accident
1945 - Became known as the Chief Armorer of the United States
- Assembled core for Trinity, the first detonated atomic device -
Death of Harry Daghlian
Harry Daghlian was an American Physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, who was a college of Louis Slotin First criticality accident at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Was performing a critical mass experiment when he accidentally dropped a heavy tungsten carbide brick onto a 6.2 kilogram (14lb) plutonium-gallium alloy bomb core, accidentally irradiating himself Estimated 510 rem (5.1 sv) of neutron radiation Died from Acute Radiation Syndrome 25 days Later -
"Tickling the Dragon's Tail"
- Testing on the Demon core, same plutonium core that killed Harry Daghlian
- Test was performed by slowly bringing two beryllium coated hemispheres together around a plutonium core without the two halves touching, but when the screwdriver separating the two hemispheres slipped causing a burst of radiation.
- Slotin quickly moved the top hemisphere off the demon core with his left hand to stop the radiation and save his fellow colleagues from lethal doses that ended the reaction
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Radiation Dose
- Dosimetry badges were in a lock box, so it is still unknown how much radiation they actually received
- He then tried to use a radiation detector on various items that were near the core—a bristle brush, an empty Coca-Cola bottle, a hammer, a measuring tape
- Estimated 2,100 rem of neutron, gamma, and x-ray to Slotin's whole body and over 15,000 rem of neutron, gamma, and x-ray to just his left hand
- Other estimations: 10 Gy, 2.87Gy, 10 Gy (neutron), 1.14 Gy (gamma)
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After the Accident
- 4 of the 8 men discharged from hospital, but the other 4 were in more critical condition
- Slotin and 2 other physicist developed acute radiation syndrome
- Slotin's conditions included: vomitting following exposure, diarrhea, swollen hands, erythema, intestinal paralysis, gangrene, internal radiaiton burns, nausea, abdominal pain
- Left hand took on a blue color and developed blisters
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Acute Radiation Syndrome
- White cell count dropped
- Temperature and pulse began to fluctuate
- Signs of mental confusion
- Oxygen deprivation
- Slipped into a coma
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Death of Louis Slotin
- Died at the age of 35 of Acute Radiation Syndrome
- 9 days later after the criticality accident
- Known as a hero for his quick reaction, risking his own life