Buzz
Daven Hiskey is the mastermind behind the fascinating and highly visited fact site Today I Found Out. To receive his insightful 'Daily Knowledge' newsletter, click here.
On July 13, 1978, Russian scientist Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski became the first and only individual to place his head in a live particle accelerator. While working as a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Bugorski was investigating a malfunction in equipment on the Soviet Synchrotron U-70 particle accelerator when his head accidentally entered the path of the proton beam. He reported seeing a flash brighter than 'a thousand suns,' but surprisingly felt no pain during the event.
The proton beam was measured at 2000 gray as it entered Bugorski’s skull, and about 3000 gray as it exited. A 'gray' is a unit of energy absorbed from ionizing radiation, where one gray equals the absorption of one joule of radiation by one kilogram of matter. Exposure to more than 5 grays typically results in death within 14 days. However, Bugorski’s experience marked the first time someone had been exposed to such intense radiation from a proton beam traveling nearly at light speed.
The Consequences
The proton beam entered the back of Bugorski’s head and exited near his nose. Shortly after the incident, the left side of Bugorski’s face began to swell. He was rushed to the hospital and closely monitored, with doctors and scientists fully expecting him to succumb to his injuries within a few days.
However, against all odds, Bugorski survived. Despite the proton beam burning through his skull and brain tissue, and causing the skin in the affected areas to peel off, he made a surprisingly strong recovery. His intellectual abilities remained unchanged, and the few health issues he faced were not life-threatening: he lost hearing in his left ear, which was accompanied by a constant, unpleasant noise. Over the next two years, the left side of his face became gradually paralyzed. He also experienced increased fatigue during mental tasks, but he managed to earn his PhD after the incident. Later, he developed occasional absence seizures and tonic-clonic seizures, though they didn't appear immediately.
Perhaps the most unusual consequence was related to his face. If you see Bugorski today, you’ll notice that the right side of his face looks like that of a typical elderly man, with natural wrinkles, while the left side appears as though it’s frozen in time from decades ago. It seems that a proton beam from a particle accelerator can do what Botox can't—halt the aging process.
Explore more captivating articles from Daven at Today I Found Out and sign up for his Daily Knowledge newsletter here.
See Also...
12 U.S. States That Almost Made the List *11 Incredible Hotel Features Worth the Journey *11 Unusually Spelled Words—and Their Origins
