
A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelerator beam - thisjepisje
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Bugorski
======
Aqueous
It seems like the reason his intellectual capacity stayed the same may be
because the beam did not touch his frontal lobes, but passed through his
midbrain all the way to the back of his head, and appears to have exited near
the occipital lobe. The occipital lobe is where the visual cortex is located,
which could explain why he saw a light brighter than a "thousand suns." I'd be
curious to know what his visual-spatial capacity and perceptual acuity was
after this accident, though as a physicist he would probably rely on these
systems heavily.

Someone with a better neuroscience background might be able to confirm that
this is why the beam seems to have left his personality and intellectual
ability in tact. Anyone?

~~~
jobvandervoort
The brain is incredibly plastic. In different degrees, it has been observed
that neurons around a destroyed area mitigate the problem by taking over lost
function.

In addition, abstract processing in the brain occurs over larger areas (think
large neural networks). It is not established how exactly. It can be reasoned
that to achieve some form of thought, followed by action, multiple sensory
modalities have to be integrated. For this large, spatially divided, parts of
the brain are necessary. Personality and intellect are therefore likely an
emergent property of the entire network, not so much restricted to the frontal
lobe.

It's a shame he is not thoroughly studied. I'm curious to see the actual
extend of the damage. I hypothesize that his seizures are a product of
plasticity around the damaged areas.

~~~
Aqueous
Yes, alterations elsewhere could most certainly have an impact on personality
and intellect - but certainly a person with severe frontal lobe damage suffers
more profound personality changes and working memory deficits than someone who
experiences damage elsewhere, correct? I'm reminded of the story of Phineas
Gage who had severe injuries to his frontal lobes, and according to people who
encountered him displayed poor judgment/impulsivity for the rest of his days.
There have been challenges to these reports, with some saying that Phineas
Gage was very functional even after the accident. I'm inclined to believe that
the truth is somewhere between "Severely disabled" and "Perfectly functional,"
which means some aspects of reports about his personality changes are
accurate.

~~~
jobvandervoort
Yep, that seems fair to say. Must note that it seems that the damage that
Phineas endured was much more substantial.

Considering the complexity of personality and behavior and our lack of
understanding of their representation in the brain, I wonder how far we would
get than this type of anecdotal evidence if given the change to investigate.
Personality tests are mostly, if not completely useless.

------
jaredandrews
So I tried to find a more recent picture after reading the article. I stumbled
upon this Gizmodo article which indicates that the left side of his face
hasn't wrinkled since the accident, due to the paralysis caused by the beam.
You wouldn't guess that he was struck by a proton beam based on the picture in
the article...

[http://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-you-stick-your-head-
int...](http://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-you-stick-your-head-into-a-
particle-a-1171981874/1174437474)

~~~
themodelplumber
This gizmodo article reeks of sensationalism. They go so far as to say half of
his face got "older and wrinkly," while the other half stayed "exactly the
same," even though it's plainly obvious that all of his face has aged, both
sides have wrinkles, and the half that was struck by the beam isn't the same
as it was since the accident. At the very least I'd love to see more
information substantiating the claim.

An article explaining part of the reason why I'm suspicious:
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/24/i...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/07/24/its-
not-just-about-the-malaysian-flight-russians-are-living-in-an-alternate-
reality/)

~~~
simonster
This doesn't seem all that crazy to me. The Wikipedia article says that the
left side of his face is paralyzed because the corresponding nerves are
destroyed. The left side of his face may not wrinkle because the muscles do
not contract. This is similar to the mechanism of Botox, which interferes with
nerve terminals at the injection site.

EDIT: Also, one of the symptoms of Bell's palsy, which is a form of paralysis
of the cranial nerves, is fewer wrinkles on the affected side of the face.

------
fnordfnordfnord
I was told by staffers at Fermilab that it was once not uncommon for
experimenters to stand in the experiment blockhouses and manually position
detectors in the beam. Sometimes maybe even traversing the beam in front of
the beam-dump. Not the main ring beamline of course, that would probably be
fatal, but the at the Meson Test Beam line. Nowadays those areas are locked
out such that breaching the area would shut off the beam before you could
reach it. Of course, it was probably locked-out then as well, but now you'll
be thrown off the premises if you break the lock.

~~~
mikeash
Somewhat similar: during the early nuclear bomb design work, people would
sometimes perform criticality experiments _by hand_ on plutonium cores. There
were, naturally, accidents, with two people dying immediately and several
others dying years later likely due to the radiation exposure.

See:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core)

~~~
leoc
The fellow holding the plutonium hemispheres apart with the tip of a
screwdriver
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin)
had previously distinguished himself by going swimming in an active nuclear
reactor. Possibly no-one will ever surpass his achievements as likely the
greatest eejit in the history of nuclear engineering.

~~~
shangxiao
Known as "tickling the dragon's tail". Naturally Hollywood has it's own take
on the situation:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zg69OlFOac)

------
goldenkey
Also see victims of the Therac-25:
[http://courses.cs.vt.edu/professionalism/Therac_25/Therac_1....](http://courses.cs.vt.edu/professionalism/Therac_25/Therac_1.html)

~~~
lutorm
Yes, a good read for anyone interested in codes for safety-critical
applications.

------
outworlder
So, that must be where the plot of Another World came from.

------
matthewmcg
"Phineas Gage for the Nuclear Age!"

------
mcphage
Is this the origin story of Doctor Moscow?

------
idlewords
In Soviet Russia, proton splits YOU

~~~
shangxiao
That would be funny if protons were splittable

~~~
PhantomGremlin
I'm confused. Protons are "splittable" in the sense that they are not
elementary particles, but are instead comprised of multiple quarks. The Large
Hadron Collider [0] "splits" protons. In fact this is how they claim to have
observed the Higgs boson. See the image caption:

    
    
       Simulated Large Hadron Collider CMS particle
       detector data depicting a Higgs boson produced
       by colliding protons decaying into hadron jets
       and electrons
    

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider)

~~~
shangxiao
oops!

