• History

The Strange Story of the First People to Die From Nuclear Weapons During Peacetime

3 minute read
LOS ALAMOS GATE
A Feb. 25,1955 view of the well-guarded Los Alamos, N.M. birthplace of the A-bomb and other thermonuclear weapons.AP
By Lily Rothman

The first wartime deaths from nuclear weaponry were vast in number and world-changing in scope. The first peacetime deaths from that same technology were far quieter incidents, free of violence but still illustrative of the awful power of the bomb.

The physicist Louis Slotin was part of the team that figured out how much nuclear material (plutonium and uranium) would be needed for the bombs used at the end of World War II. And as Richard L. Miller explained in his 1986 book Under the Cloud, Slotin wanted to see his work through to the end by accompanying the pilots who dropped the bomb, but he wasn’t given permission. Frustrated, he decided to go on vacation instead and leave his young assistant, Harry Daghlian, to continue his experiments while he was away.

On Aug. 21, 1945, Daghlian was stacking tungsten carbide bricks as a reflector around a plutonium core, according to a Los Alamos report on nuclear accidents. The idea was that the tungsten would reflect neutrons, meaning that you’d need less plutonium to get a nuclear reaction going. Daghlian’s lab instruments showed him that the next tungsten brick he added to the stack would bring the experiment to a critical point (ie. the reaction would begin). He moved to take the brick away, but his hand slipped and it fell into the middle of the stack. Though he quickly took the assembly apart, it was too late.

According to the American Physical Society, Daghlian’s skin turned red and began to peel off as his gastrointestinal system started to fail. He died that September. In a cruel twist, the next person to be killed by peacetime atomic science, in a similar mishap the next year, was Louis Slotin.

After that death, TIME (misidentifying Slotin as “the first peacetime victim of nuclear fission”) explained the science behind such accidents:

Apparently Dr. Slotin and seven or more other scientists were working with “subcritical masses” of uranium or plutonium. Kept apart, these masses were lifeless as lead, but if brought together to form a mass above “critical” size, a chain reaction would start. Its violence would depend on the character of the materials. Probably they were midway in activity between mild-mannered natural uranium and furious plutonium 239.

Bringing such “reactors” together is touchy business. The scientists work with infinite caution, watching instruments which measure the number of free neutrons within the experimental mass. Under some conditions, the chain reaction starts slowly. But sometimes it leaps into violence in a millionth of a second. There is no explosion, no vibration, no sound. No human sense can detect the outburst of deadly radiation. The only warning, which comes too late, is a faint bluish glow. Some experts think it is caused by ionization of the air; others believe it to be an optical illusion telegraphed to the brain by stimulated nerves behind the eyes.

Slotin suffered radiation burns while breaking apart the materials. According to a letter to the editor about that article, Slotin knew that he was sure to die within days but still returned to the lab to explain his work to the staff, “not wanting any knowledge to die with him.”

As for that staff, they had learned from the mistakes of those before them and established new safety protocols.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Photos From the Ruins

Urakami Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Nagasaki, September, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Urakami Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Nagasaki, September, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Nagasaki, September, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Nagasaki, September, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Hiroshima streetcar, September, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Hiroshima streetcar, September, 1945.J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Nagasaki, Japan, September 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Nagasaki, Japan, September 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
A photo album, pieces of pottery, a pair of scissors - shards of life strewn on the ground in Nagasaki, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. A photo album, pieces of pottery, a pair of scissors - shards of life strewn on the ground in Nagasaki, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
From notes by LIFE's Bernard Hoffman to the magazine's long-time picture editor, Wilson Hicks, in New York, September 1945.
From notes by LIFE's Bernard Hoffman to the magazine's long-time picture editor, Wilson Hicks, in New York, September 1945.Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Hiroshima, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Hiroshima, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Nagasaki, 1945, a few months after an American B-29 dropped an atomic bomb, codenamed "Fat Man," on the city.
Not published in LIFE. Nagasaki, 1945, a few months after an American B-29 dropped an atomic bomb, codenamed "Fat Man," on the city.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The landscape around Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, September, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. The landscape around Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, September, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
From notes by LIFE's Bernard Hoffman to the magazine's long-time picture editor, Wilson Hicks, in New York, September 1945.
From notes by LIFE's Bernard Hoffman to the magazine's long-time picture editor, Wilson Hicks, in New York, September 1945.Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Neighborhood reduced to rubble by atomic bomb blast, Hiroshima, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Neighborhood reduced to rubble by atomic bomb blast, Hiroshima, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Bust in front of destroyed cathedral two miles from the atomic bomb detonation site, Nagasaki, Japan, 1945.
Bust in front of destroyed cathedral two miles from the atomic bomb detonation site, Nagasaki, Japan, 1945.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Hiroshima, 1945, two months after the August 6 bombing.
Not published in LIFE. Hiroshima, 1945, two months after the August 6 bombing.Bernard Hoffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Nagasaki, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Nagasaki, 1945.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Two women pay respects at a ruined cemetery, Nagasaki, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Two women pay respects at a ruined cemetery, Nagasaki, 1945.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Hiroshima, September, 1945.
Not published in LIFE. Hiroshima, September, 1945.J.R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com