My dad, Lt. DeForest Lord Jr., US Navy, 1944. He died in 1975 from a brain tumor, most likely caused by radiation exposure he received while working as a contract dentist in Los Alamos. In May, 1946, there was an accident involving a sphere of plutonium and two hollow half spheres of beryllium. The lead scientist, Louis Slotin, was using a screwdriver to gradually bring together the two halves of beryllium and measure the radiation increase. The test was called “tickling the dragon’s tail” because it was so dangerous and was being observed by 7 others in the room. The screwdriver slipped and the pieces made full contact. A blue light filled the room and Slotin felt a wave of heat over his body. He manually separated the spheres and the reaction stopped. My father later told me that he was called in to remove fillings from the teeth of the participants so that doctors and scientists could determine how much radiation they had received. Slotin died 9 days after the incident. The plutonium core had also been involved in a previous accident in August, 1945, that killed scientist Harry Daglian. It became known as the Demon Core. Dad was a delayed casualty of WWII and I miss him still. Thanks for your service.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 20:43:01 +0000
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