The article contains Youngâs surviving eyewitness account of the much-memed âdemon coreâ[0] incident involving Louis Slotin.
Young expresses anger at the pressure put on Slotin to enact the experiment so dangerously in person.
â Hospitalized for observation, Young was released, but forever after blamed Slotinâs death on Grovesâ insistence on obtaining test results before proper equipment was available. âThere was no need to kill Louis Slotin to show that making critical mass measures should be made by remote control,â he wrote in 1975, still angry.â
As the demon-core incident is often attributed to Slotin showing off and his careless youthful bravado, Youngâs account is valuable as is testifies that pressure for results from the head of the project Gen. Leslie Groves was the cause that the experiment was not performed remotely.
Young further testified that Slotinâs quick reactions saved him and others from a fatal dose.
â Slotin immediately knocked the two hemispheres of radioactive material apart with his hand, probably saving the other technicians and scientists in the roomâincluding Youngâfrom immediate death.
â
So Slotin was not a fool but under deadline pressure for results and his actions saved others.
Young is a fascinating chap, no formal science education but worked his way up to scientist and made the worldâs first working breeder reactor in his spare time.
[0] â The meme-ification of the âDemon Coreââ
The article contains Youngâs surviving eyewitness account of the much-memed âdemon coreâ[0] incident involving Louis Slotin.
Young expresses anger at the pressure put on Slotin to enact the experiment so dangerously in person.
â Hospitalized for observation, Young was released, but forever after blamed Slotinâs death on Grovesâ insistence on obtaining test results before proper equipment was available. âThere was no need to kill Louis Slotin to show that making critical mass measures should be made by remote control,â he wrote in 1975, still angry.â
As the demon-core incident is often attributed to Slotin showing off and his careless youthful bravado, Youngâs account is valuable as is testifies that pressure for results from the head of the project Gen. Leslie Groves was the cause that the experiment was not performed remotely.
Young further testified that Slotinâs quick reactions saved him and others from a fatal dose.
â Slotin immediately knocked the two hemispheres of radioactive material apart with his hand, probably saving the other technicians and scientists in the roomâincluding Youngâfrom immediate death. â
So Slotin was not a fool but under deadline pressure for results and his actions saved others.
Young is a fascinating chap, no formal science education but worked his way up to scientist and made the worldâs first working breeder reactor in his spare time.
[0] â The meme-ification of the âDemon Coreââ
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42200699