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Explore the deadly history of the Demon Core, a plutonium sphere that claimed two lives in separate laboratory accidents during the Manhattan Project era. Learn about the tragic cases of physicists Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin, who died from radiation exposure after working with this seemingly innocuous metal ball roughly the size of a grapefruit. Discover the science behind radiation poisoning, how criticality accidents occur, and the safety protocols that emerged from these devastating incidents. Understand the physics of nuclear chain reactions and why this particular plutonium core became one of the most infamous objects in nuclear history, earning its ominous nickname through the fatal consequences of two separate mishaps in Los Alamos laboratories.
