5 ms·

I was told by staffers at Fermilab that it was once not uncommon for experimenters to stand in the experiment blockhouses and manually position detectors in the

I was told by staffers at Fermilab that it was once not uncommon for experimenters to stand in the experiment blockhouses and manually position detectors in the beam. Sometimes maybe even traversing the beam in front of the beam-dump. Not the main ring beamline of course, that would probably be fatal, but the at the Meson Test Beam line. Nowadays those areas are locked out such that breaching the area would shut off the beam before you could reach it. Of course, it was probably locked-out then as well, but now you'll be thrown off the premises if you break the lock.

mikeash 12y ago
Somewhat similar: during the early nuclear bomb design work, people would sometimes perform criticality experiments by hand on plutonium cores. There were, naturally, accidents, with two people dying immediately and several others dying years later likely due to the radiation exposure. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core
- saalweachter 12y ago
  Off topic: I've heard people refer to Hiroshima/Nagasaki as a "bluff" in that there was no third (fourth) bomb to drop if Japan hadn't surrendered. This article indicates otherwise. The Demon Core would have been the next bomb to be dropped, and was ready to go. So the USA wasn't bluffing, and was in fact prepared to keep dropping bombs one after the other.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- leoc 12y ago
  The fellow holding the plutonium hemispheres apart with the tip of a screwdriver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin had previously distinguished himself by going swimming in an active nuclear reactor. Possibly no-one will ever surpass his achievements as likely the greatest eejit in the history of nuclear engineering.
  - shangxiao 12y ago
    Known as "tickling the dragon's tail". Naturally Hollywood has it's own take on the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac

mikeash 12y ago

Somewhat similar: during the early nuclear bomb design work, people would sometimes perform criticality experiments by hand on plutonium cores. There were, naturally, accidents, with two people dying immediately and several others dying years later likely due to the radiation exposure. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core

saalweachter 12y ago
Off topic: I've heard people refer to Hiroshima/Nagasaki as a "bluff" in that there was no third (fourth) bomb to drop if Japan hadn't surrendered. This article indicates otherwise. The Demon Core would have been the next bomb to be dropped, and was ready to go. So the USA wasn't bluffing, and was in fact prepared to keep dropping bombs one after the other.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
leoc 12y ago
The fellow holding the plutonium hemispheres apart with the tip of a screwdriver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin had previously distinguished himself by going swimming in an active nuclear reactor. Possibly no-one will ever surpass his achievements as likely the greatest eejit in the history of nuclear engineering.
- shangxiao 12y ago
  Known as "tickling the dragon's tail". Naturally Hollywood has it's own take on the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac