The Demon Core: Plutonium Sphere That Killed 2 Scientists. #science #viral #vivia alshor#trending

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Did you know that a single sphere of plutonium killed two scientists in separate accidents and they kept using it anyway? Meet the demon core, 6.2 kg of pure plutonium created during the Manhattan Project. In August 1945, scientist Harry Daghlian was working alone at night. He accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto the core.

[00:00:19]The room filled with blue light.

[00:00:21]Daghlian had triggered a criticality accident. He died 25 days later from radiation poisoning. Nine months later, Louis Slotin was demonstrating the same core to colleagues. He was using two beryllium hemispheres holding them apart with just a screwdriver. The screwdriver slipped. Again, blue light flooded the room. Slotin quickly separated the hemispheres saving his colleagues' lives but not his own. He died nine days later. The researchers nicknamed it the demon core, yet they continued their experiments with this killer sitting on their lab bench. Two brilliant scientists, same radioactive mass, same deadly arrogance. The atomic age had claimed its first victims [music] and they knew exactly how dangerous it was.