Anatoli Bugorski, the Scientist Who Survived Being Stuck in a Particle Accelerator
Anatoli Bugorski is the only known person to have survived an intense proton beam passing through his head.
What Is a Particle Accelerator?
As children, I am sure most of us would have loved crashing things together.
Whether it is crashing two tiny cars, crashing two toy trucks, or even crashing with each other while running or playing energetically. There is something magical in the crashing activity that makes us look forward to it with glee as our bodies or objects crash into one another. Such fun, isn't it?
A particle accelerator is the adult version of crashing in simplest terms. Also known as “atom smashers,” they allow scientists to accelerate tiny subatomic particles, such as electrons or protons, to the speed of light. And once these supersonic tiny subatomic particles collide with each other, sophisticated particle detectors are used to detect and record the radiation and particles produced.
Scientists then interpret the results to understand particle physics and its nuances better. These results are later used for many other purposes, including medical research, nanotechnology, developing new products, and national security. Scientists also believe particle accelerators can help us understand the forces that created the universe.
All this is good. Now let us ask a dangerous question.
What happens when you stick your head inside a particle accelerator and are bombarded with a beam of trillions of protons traveling at the speed of light?
Well, based on the research done so far, it takes about 500 to 600 rads of radiation to kill someone. And a proton beam contains about 200,000 rads- 300,000 rads of radiation. In a nutshell, you will not survive more than a nanosecond.
And the only person in the world who has survived such a catastrophe and later lived normally to tell his tale is Anatoli Bugorski. Bugorski not only survived the accident, but his intellect also remained intact as he later went ahead and completed his doctorate with flying colors.
How he survived is a question still unanswered in scientific circles more than 40 years after the bizarre accident.
Anatoli Bugorski’s Accident Inside the U-70 Synchrotron
Anatoli was born on June 25, 1942, in Russia. In 1978, he started working as a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, working with the U-70 synchrotron particle accelerator,
On that fateful day on July 13, 1978, it was routine work for Bugorski as he was conducting regular maintenance activities and checking various pieces of faulty equipment at the institute. It was then he came to the U-70 synchrotron. The safety mechanism was on, and there was no reason for him to be afraid as he started his routine maintenance check-up. While doing that, he was leaning so that his head was inside the accelerator in the direct path of the proton beam.
Then the unexpected happened. The safety mechanism failed as the proton beam was triggered inside the accelerator. Bugorski hardly got time to react as the high-energy proton beam entered through the back of his head and exited through his nose. As he described it, there was a flash “brighter than a thousand suns.” But strangely, he felt no pain.
He was rushed to a clinic in Moscow for treatment, where the doctors were certain he would die. After all, who can survive a fatal radiation dose of 300,000 rads? Essentially, they were thinking of using Bugorski as a guinea pig to examine the effects of radiation, as he would start dying.
Anatoli Bugorski Survives
But to their surprise, that did not happen.
Over the next few days, the skin exposed to the beam started peeling over. He lost the hearing in his left ear and experienced a constant unpleasant noise in that ear. The left half of his face slowly became paralyzed, and he also started getting tired more often while doing mental work. There were some occasional seizures that stopped later after two years.
And the most interesting side effect was the state of his skin with age. As he aged, the right half of his face looked like a normal wrinkled older adult, while the left side affected by the beam remained frozen in time as it was decades ago. The side of Bugorski’s face that was burned never developed wrinkles and remained preserved in the exact same state it was that day.
And despite all predictions that he would be dead in a few days, Bugorski was alive and functional.
Was It Luck?
While Bugorski escaped is not completely clear, it is believed that in Bugorski’s case, what saved him was the fact that the damage was focused on a single area, unlike other radiation cases where whole organ systems are affected.
He may have just been lucky, and the beam missed essential areas of his brain, like the hippocampus or frontal lobe. On the other hand, some experts feel that proton beams react differently with different parts of the body, and because such accidents are rare, there are no case studies to understand the impact of these beams on the body parts.
And as was the case with most accidents happening inside the Soviet Union, Bugorski was not allowed to talk about it. He did continue making periodic visits to a radiation clinic for routine examinations, but it was only decades later that he spoke about the accident.
“Like former inmates, we are always aware of one another. There are not that many of us, and we know one another’s life stories. Generally, these are sad tales.”
Yes, Anatoli Bugorski did not become an instant celebrity after the accident. However, I am sure he would not mind that too much. He was probably just happy to be alive.
Sources
· Anatoli Bugorski: The Man Who Stuck His Head Inside a Particle Accelerator
· The Man Who Put His Head Inside A Particle Accelerator While It Was Switched On
· How particle accelerator works
· What Does a Particle Accelerator Actually Do?
· The Science and Technology of Particle Accelerators- Rob Appleby
· The Physics of Particle Accelerators: An Introduction - Klaus Wille
Another story I’d never heard. Thank you Ravi.