Harry Daghlian | |
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Born | Haroutune Krikor Daghlian Jr. May 4, 1921 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
Died | September 15, 1945 Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S. | (aged 24)
Cause of death | Acute radiation syndrome |
Resting place | Cedar Grove Cemetery |
Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Purdue University (BS) |
Occupation | Physicist |
Haroutune Krikor Daghlian Jr. (May 4, 1921 – September 15, 1945) 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 the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico and died 25 days later from the resultant radiation poisoning.
Daghlian was irradiated as a result of a criticality accident that occurred when he accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a 6.2 kg bomb core made of plutonium–gallium alloy. This core, subsequently nicknamed the "demon core", was later involved in the death of another physicist, Louis Slotin.