Harry Daghlian
| Harry K. Daghlian Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Haroutune Krikor Daghlian Jr. May 4, 1921 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | September 15, 1945 (aged 24) Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Radiation poisoning |
| Resting place | Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | Bachelor of Science |
| Alma mater | Purdue University |
| Occupation | Physicist |
| Home town | New London, Connecticut, U.S. |
Haroutune Krikor "Harry" Daghlian Jr. (May 4, 1921 – September 15, 1945) was a physicist with the Manhattan Project which designed and produced the atomic bombs that were used in World War II. He accidentally irradiated himself on August 21, 1945, during a critical mass experiment at the remote Omega Site of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, resulting in his death 25 days later.
Daghlian was irradiated as a result of a criticality accident that occurred when he accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a 6.2 kg plutonium–gallium alloy bomb core. This core, subsequently nicknamed the "demon core", was later involved in the death of another physicist, Louis Slotin.
Haroutune Krikor Daghlian Jr., of Armenian-American extraction, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on May 4, 1921, one of three children of Margaret Rose (née Currie) and Haroutune Krikor Daghlian. He had a sister, Helen, and a brother, Edward. Soon after his birth the family moved across state to the coastal town of New London, Connecticut. He was educated at Harbor Elementary School, where he played violin in the school orchestra, and at Bulkeley High School. In 1938, at the age of 17, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, intending to study mathematics, but became interested in physics, particularly particle physics, then emerging as an exciting new field. This led him to transfer to the West Lafayette, Indiana, campus of Purdue University, which graduated him in 1942 with a bachelor of Science degree. He then commenced work on his doctorate, assisting Marshall Holloway with the cyclotrons. In 1944, while still a graduate student, he joined Otto Frisch's Critical Assembly Group at the Los Alamos Laboratory of the Manhattan Project.
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