Comments on: Ad: Work at Los Alamos (Jan, 1956)

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:26:08 +0000

Yes, though a decade before this. In subsequent years they developed much better safety mechanism. The person you’re probably thinking about is Loius Slotin. Here’s a wikipedia article with a bunch of info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....#Incidents

By the way, if you’re at all interested in this subject, the book The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is an incredibly interesting and surprisingly readable book.

By: Dog0

Dog0 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:08:53 +0000

Ummm… Didn’t this sphere of plutonium go supercritical by accident and kill one of the scientists due to radiation exposure?

By: Firebrand38

Firebrand38 — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:34:08 +0000

Technically it’s not actually a “nuke”. It was a test apparatus described in Los Alamos Technical Report LA-8762-MS:

The Jezebel assembly was established to determine the neutronic behavior of an unreflected critical sphere of delta-phase plutonium. Support and control structures were designed to keep neutron reflection to an absolute minimum. The effects of reflection are small enough to allow confident extrapolations to the unreflected sphere. In that respect, the nickel protective coating on the plutonium metal must be taken into account as a component of extraneous reflection.
Major features of Jezebel, a plutonium sphere clad with O.13-mm-thick nickel, include a stationary central section, upper and lower movable blocks, and a single plutonium control rod. The central section is actually made up of two separate plutonium pieces clamped together.

Also, in lieu of the Old Testament “Jezebel” happens to be a Bette Davis movie. Quoting from the Internet Movie Data base:
Set in antebellum New Orleans during the early 1850′s, this film follows Julie Marsden through her quest for social redemption on her own terms. Julie is a beautiful and free spirited, rapacious Southern belle who is sure of herself and controlling of her fiancÃ© Preston Dillard, a successful young banker. Julie’s sensitive but domineering personality–she does not want so much to hurt as to assert her independence–forces a wedge between Preston and herself. To win him back, she plays North against South amid a deadly epidemic of yellow fever which claims a surprising victim.

By: Stannous

Stannous — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:06:43 +0000

Interesting name choice for a nuke:
OLD TESTAMENT-
Jezebel uses her control over Ahab to subject Israel to tyranny. After she slaughters the prophets of the Lord, the prophet Elijah confronts her to charge her with abominations. She responds by threatening to kill him as well. After Ahab’s death, Jezebel continues to rule through her son Ahaziah. When Ahaziah is killed in battle, she exercises control through her other son, Jehoram. Jehoram is killed by Jehu, who confronts Jezebel in Jezreel and urges her servants to kill her by defenestration. They comply, throwing her out of a window, and her corpse is left in the nearby street to be eaten by dogs leaving only her skull, feet, and hands in fulfillment of Elijah’s prophecy.
NEW TESTAMENT-
She is accused in Revelation 2:20 of inducing members of the church there to commit acts of sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.