The Demon Core: How a 14lb Plutonium Ball Killed Two Scientists

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Did you know a 14-lb ball of plutonium killed two scientists and became one of the deadliest objects on Earth?

[00:00:07]Scientists [music] called it the demon core. August 1945, Harry Daghlian was working alone at Los Alamos. He accidentally dropped a brick of neutron-reflecting material onto the plutonium sphere. Instantly, the room filled with a deadly blue glow. Daghlian knew immediately he was dead. The radiation dose was massive. He suffered for 25 agonizing days before his body finally gave up. Eight months later, Louis Slotin was showing the core to colleagues. He used a screwdriver to keep two halves barely apart. One slip meant death. The screwdriver slipped.

[00:00:46]For a split second, the core went super critical. That same blue flash filled the room. Slotin calmly told everyone exactly how much radiation they'd received. He knew he'd absorbed the worst of it. Nine days later, he was dead. Both men watched their bodies slowly shut down. Skin peeling, organs failing. The demon core had claimed two brilliant minds and it wasn't finished killing.