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American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a plutonium bomb core, exposing himself to neutron radiation and later becoming the first Manhattan Project fatality due to a criticality accident.
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Harry Daghlian
American physicist (1921–1945)
Haroutune Krikor Daghlian Jr. was an American physicist with the Manhattan Project, which designed and produced the atomic bombs that were used in World War II. He accidentally irradiated himself on August 21, 1945, during a critical mass experiment at the remote Omega Site of…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Tungsten carbide
Hard, dense and stiff chemical compound
Tungsten carbide is a carbide containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into shapes through sintering for use in industrial machinery, engineering facilities, molding…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Plutonium
Chemical element with atomic number 94 (Pu)
Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It was initially discovered and named Hesperium by Enrico Fermi in 1934. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Neutron radiation
Ionizing radiation that presents as free neutrons
Neutron radiation is a form of ionizing radiation that presents as free neutrons. Typical phenomena are nuclear fission or nuclear fusion causing the release of free neutrons, which then react with nuclei of other atoms to form new nuclides—which, in turn, may trigger further…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Manhattan Project
World War II Allied nuclear weapons program
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Criticality accident
Uncontrolled nuclear fission chain reaction
A criticality accident is an accidental uncontrolled nuclear fission chain reaction. It is sometimes referred to as a critical excursion, critical power excursion, divergent chain reaction, or simply critical. Any such event involves the unintended accumulation or arrangement of…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)