On July 13, 1978, Russian scientist Anatoli Bugorski was checking a malfunctioning particle accelerator, and as he was leaning over the piece of equipment, he stuck his head through the part where the proton beam was running through. He reported seeing a flash that was “brighter than a thousand suns”, but did not feel any pain when this happened. According to Today I Found Out, the beam itself measured 2000 gray as it entered Bugorski’s skull and about 3000 gray when it exited on the other side – a “gray” is an SI unit of energy absorbed from ionizing radiation and absorption of over 5 grays at any time usually leads to death within 14 days. Continue reading for a video and more information.
Today I Found Out reports: “As you can see from the picture, the beam entered the back of Bugorski’s head and came out around his nose. Shortly after this happened, Bugorski’s left half of his face swelled up beyond recognition. He was taken to the hospital and studied as this was something that had never been seen before and so they closely monitored him thereafter, fully expecting him to die within a few days at most. Although the skin on the part of his face and back of his head where the beam hit peeled off over the next few days and the beam had burned through his skull and brain tissue, Bugorski did not die and actually came through it all surprisingly well.”
[Source]
