The Top 5 Chemistry Lab Injuries/deaths of All Time!

OK, not the most normal of all the ChemistryNumber 3
related topics I usually post on. But it was broughtMichael Faraday
to my attention whilst watching a documentary aSuffered chronic poisoning
few days ago about reaching ‘Absolute
Zero’, that compared to other scientists,This guy worked for Sir Humphrey Davy’s
Chemists usually get it bad in the whole injuriesand seemed to have taken on some of his
deaths thing. It’s very unusual that a Chemistmental chemical lab practices. Due injury to Sir
will be shot or have something kill themHumphrey Davy’s eyes, Faraday became an
instantaneously; they usually suffer long andapprentice to him. He went on to improve on
painful deaths…Davy’s methods of electrolysis and to make
Number 5important discoveries in the field of
Elizabeth Ascheimelectro-magnetics. Unfortunately Faraday also
Killed by X-Rayssuffered damage to his eyes in a nitrogen chloride
explosion. He spent the remainder of his life
Elizabeth Fleischman Ascheims husband, a Drsuffering chronic chemical poisoning.
Woolf was very interested in the new discoveryNumber 2
of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen - x-rays. His newMarie Curie
wife became equally interested and she gave upDied of radiation exposure
her job as a bookkeeper to undertake studies in
electrical science. Eventually she bought an x-rayIn 1898, Curie working with her husband Pierre,
machine which she moved in to her husbandsdiscovered radium. ‘Awesome!’ she must
office - this was the first x-ray lab in Sanhave thought as she spent the remainder of her
Francisco. She and her husband spent some yearslife performing radiation research and studying
experimenting with the machine - usingradiation therapy. Unfortunately her constant
themselves as subjects. Unfortunately they didexposure to radiation led to her contracting
not realize the consequences of their lack ofleukaemia and she died in 1934. Although I must
protection and Elizabeth died of an extremelyalso add Curie is the first and only person to
widespread and violent cancer.receive two Nobel prizes in science in two
Number 4different fields: chemistry and physics. Which even
Sir Humphrey DavyI must admit is pretty impressive, worth losing
A catalog of disastersyour life over though?
NUMBER 1
Sir Humphrey Davy, an amazing British chemist,Louis Slotin
got a very bumpy start to his science career. AsKilled himself with an accidental fission reaction
a young apprentice he was fired from his job at
an apothecary because he caused too manyAs part of the mysterious Manhattan Project,
explosions! And unsurprisingly when he eventually(The US first nuke building project) this genius
took up the field of chemistry, he had a habit ofmanaged to drop a sphere of beryllium on to a
inhaling the various gasses he was dealing with.second sphere obviously causing a critical reaction.
Fortunately this bad habit led to his discovery ofThe other scientists in the room witnessed a
the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide. But,“blue glow” of air ionization and felt a
unfortunately for him at least, this same habit led“heat wave”. Slotin rushed outside and
to him nearly killing himself on many occasions.was ill in some bushes then was rushed to hospital
The frequent poisonings left him an invalid for theand died nine days later. The amount of radiation
remaining two decades of his life. During this timehe was exposed to was equivalent to standing
he also permanently damaged his eyes in a4800 feet away from an atomic bomb explosion,
nitrogen trichloride explosion.so fair play to the fella he did get it bad.