Inventors Who Were Killed By Their Inventions

Don't Screw Around With Plutonium

Einstein had given science the theory that energy could be created from the mass of an object. To release this energy, a critical mass event would have to be initiated. Louis Slotin performed experimentation to determine the critical mass of uranium. He was a principal scientist on the Manhattan project. He assembled the nuclear core of the bomb that was the first detonated nuclear device. After the war, he expressed his desire to stop working on nuclear projects for moral reasons. During an experiment to find the critical mass of plutonium he accidentally dropped a screwdriver into the operation and triggered a momentary burst of radiation. Although he heroically stopped the reaction he died nine days later of radiation poisoning.