The Demon Core: How One Plutonium Sphere Killed Two Scientists

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Did you know a single plutonium sphere killed two scientists in separate accidents? Los Alamos, 1945 and 1946.

[00:00:08]World War II had just ended, but scientists were still playing with nuclear [music] fire. They called it the demon core, a 6-in sphere of plutonium [music] that looked harmless but packed the power to level a city. The first victim was Harry Daghlian. He accidentally dropped a brick of tungsten carbide onto the core. The room filled with blue light. Deadly radiation flooded his body in seconds. [music] Nine months later, Louis Slotin made an even deadlier mistake. He was demonstrating the core to colleagues using just a screwdriver to keep two metal [music] hemispheres from touching the plutonium. His hand slipped. The screwdriver moved a fraction [music] of an inch. Blue light again. Slotin threw himself over the core pulling the hemispheres apart with his bare hands.

[00:00:51][music] He saved everyone in the room but doomed himself. Both men died horrible deaths [music] over weeks.

[00:00:56]Their hair fell out, their skin peeled away, their organs shut down one by one.

[00:01:01]The same temperamental core claimed them both. Death held in their hands.