"A Flash Brighter Than A Thousand Suns"
The man who stuck his head in a particle accelerator
"Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski (born 1942) is a Russian scientist who was involved in an accident with a particle accelerator in 1978.
As a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Bugorski used to work with the largest Soviet particle accelerator, the synchrotron U-70. On July 13, 1978, Bugorski was checking a malfunctioning piece of equipment when an accident occurred due to failed safety mechanisms. Bugorski was leaning over the piece of equipment when he stuck his head in the part through which the proton beam was running. Reportedly, he saw a flash "brighter than a thousand suns", but did not feel any pain. The beam measured about 2,000 gray when it entered Bugorski's skull, and about 3,000 gray when it exited after colliding with the inside of his head.
The left half of Bugorski's face swelled up beyond recognition, and over the next several days started peeling off, showing the path that the proton beam (moving near the speed of light) had burned through parts of his face, his bone, and the brain tissue underneath. As it was believed that about 5 to 6 grays is enough to kill a person, Bugorski was taken to a clinic in Moscow where the doctors could observe his expected demise. However, Bugorski survived and even completed his Phd.,. There was virtually no damage to his intellectual capacity, but the fatigue of mental work increased markedly. Bugorski completely lost hearing in the left ear and only a constant, unpleasant internal noise remained. The left half of his face was paralyzed, due to the destruction of nerves. He is able to function perfectly well, save the fact that he has occasional absence seizures and rare tonic-clonic seizures."
"Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski (born 1942) is a Russian scientist who was involved in an accident with a particle accelerator in 1978.
As a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Bugorski used to work with the largest Soviet particle accelerator, the synchrotron U-70. On July 13, 1978, Bugorski was checking a malfunctioning piece of equipment when an accident occurred due to failed safety mechanisms. Bugorski was leaning over the piece of equipment when he stuck his head in the part through which the proton beam was running. Reportedly, he saw a flash "brighter than a thousand suns", but did not feel any pain. The beam measured about 2,000 gray when it entered Bugorski's skull, and about 3,000 gray when it exited after colliding with the inside of his head.
The left half of Bugorski's face swelled up beyond recognition, and over the next several days started peeling off, showing the path that the proton beam (moving near the speed of light) had burned through parts of his face, his bone, and the brain tissue underneath. As it was believed that about 5 to 6 grays is enough to kill a person, Bugorski was taken to a clinic in Moscow where the doctors could observe his expected demise. However, Bugorski survived and even completed his Phd.,. There was virtually no damage to his intellectual capacity, but the fatigue of mental work increased markedly. Bugorski completely lost hearing in the left ear and only a constant, unpleasant internal noise remained. The left half of his face was paralyzed, due to the destruction of nerves. He is able to function perfectly well, save the fact that he has occasional absence seizures and rare tonic-clonic seizures."
posted by nolocontendere at 10:11 PM
1 Comments:
Man I had never heard of this incident-thanks as always for keeping all of us so well updated on both the new and the old stories-very interesting indeed-all the best!!
Post a Comment
<< Home