Louis Slotin (1910–1946) was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project, the secret U.S. program during World War II that developed the atomic bomb. As part of the Manhattan Project, Slotin performed experiments with uranium and plutonium cores to determine their critical mass values. During World War II, Slotin continued his research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. On 21 May 1946, Slotin accidentally began a fission reaction, which released a burst of hard radiation. He was rushed to a hospital, and died of radiation sickness nine days later on 30 May, the second victim of a criticality accident in history. Slotin was hailed as a hero by the United States government for reacting quickly enough to prevent the deaths of his colleagues due to the accident he caused. The accident and its aftermath have been dramatized in fictional accounts.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1814:

The War of the Sixth Coalition ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which deposed Napoleon and restored Louis XVIII to the French throne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1814)

1899:

Female Old West outlaw Pearl Hart performed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Globe, Arizona. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Hart

1925:

Shanghai Municipal Police officers opened fire on Chinese protesters in the city's International Settlement, giving rise to a major labor and anti-imperialist movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Thirtieth_Movement

1959:

The Auckland Harbour Bridge, joining St Marys Bay in Auckland with Northcote in the former North Shore City, New Zealand, was officially opened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Harbour_Bridge

1972:

Members of the Japanese Red Army carried out the Lod Airport massacre in Tel Aviv, Israel, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killing over 20 people and injuring almost 80 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lod_Airport_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

have Van Gogh's ear for music: (humorous) To be tone-deaf. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_Van_Gogh%27s_ear_for_music

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations. Thus the individual, his freedom and reason, are the products of society, and not vice versa: society is not the product of individuals comprising it; and the higher, the more fully the individual is developed, the greater his freedom — and the more he is the product of society, the more does he receive from society and the greater his debt to it. --Mikhail Bakunin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin