From the Chernobyl disaster to the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, experiencing radiation can be very frightening. Radiation sickness can lead to symptoms like nausea, vomiting, seizures, and even more severe conditions such as sepsis, cardiovascular collapse, and often death. Even when using radiation for beneficial purposes, like treating cancer, there can be serious side effects. A dose of just 5 grays (Gy) of radiation can be fatal. Cancer patients usually receive between 45 and 60 Gys, but it’s divided into smaller doses over a few weeks. However, in 1978, physicist Anatoli Bugorski was exposed to over 3,000 Gys at once — 600 times the fatal dose. Remarkably, he survived.
In science labs or classes, safety is a top priority. Wearing goggles, avoiding direct exposure to strong odors, wearing closed-toed shoes, and other precautions are essential. Working with scientific equipment can be risky, especially when dealing with devices that accelerate atomic or subatomic particles at the speed of light to create new elements. However, In the Soviet Union, Anatoli Bugorski didn’t seem to have learned these safety measures. He accidentally stuck his head into the particle accelerator he was using at work. However, the details of what happened to him during this accident remain somewhat of a medical mystery.
Bugorski was born in Russia on June 25, 1942. In 1978, he began working as a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, where he operated the U-70 synchrotron particle accelerator. The Soviet Union had a mission to become a superpower during the Cold War, so they built 60 science boomtowns during that era and Protvino was dedicated to nuclear research. It was designed for scientists to live with their families and carry out confidential work in a location away from public scrutiny.
On July 13, 1978, Bugorski was performing routine maintenance and checking malfunctioning equipment at the institute. During this regular task, he approached the U-70 synchrotron. The safety measures were in place, and there was no apparent danger as he began his routine maintenance check. While doing so, he inadvertently positioned his head inside the accelerator, directly in the path of the proton beam. A beam went through his head, giving him a massive dose of radiation. Normally, such a dose could kill a person, but Bugorski didn’t die.
Bugorski’s face swelled up, and the skin on his head and face peeled away. The beam burned through his skin, skull, and brain. The nerves on one side of his face disappeared, and he had seizures. But surprisingly, he didn’t die. Reportedly, he saw a flash “brighter than a thousand suns” but did not feel any pain. The beam passed through the back of his head, the occipital and temporal lobes of his brain, the left middle ear, and out through the left hand side of his nose. The exposed parts of his head received a local dose of 200,000 to 300,000 roentgens (2,000 to 3,000 Sieverts). Bugorski understood the severity of what had happened, but continued working on the malfunctioning equipment, and initially opted not to tell anyone what had happened.
He was rushed to a clinic in Moscow for treatment, where the doctors were certain he would die after being exposed to a radiation dose of 300,000 rads. Bugorski didn’t feel any pain even though he got hit with a lot of harmful radiation all at once. But he wasn’t completely fine after the accident. The proton beam went through his head, causing the left side of his face to swell up. In the following days, the skin that touched the beam got blistered and peeled off. Doctors could see the burn path the beam took through his face, bone, and brain.
Before Bugorski’s accident, no one knew what would happen to someone exposed to such concentrated radiation. Doctors thought he would die in a few days, which was a reasonable assumption. However, against all expectations, he survived and lived to share his story.
We measure the amount of radiation absorbed in units called grays (Gy), which means one joule of radiation energy per kilogram of stuff. Radiation can harm cells in living beings, and just 5 gray can be deadly. Bugorski’s head got hit with 2,000 Gy initially, and when the beam went through his head, it increased to 3,000 Gy. For treating neck, head, and breast cancers with radiation, the doses are usually between 45 and 60 Gy. Patients don’t get the full dose all at once; instead, it’s given in smaller amounts over one to two months.
Most cancer patients who get radiation therapy receive small doses of radiation every day, five times a week, for five to eight weeks. Each dose has a little bit of radiation, and over time, these doses add up to the total needed. This helps kill cancer cells while causing less harm to healthy tissues. A small amount of radiation can be deadly (5 Gy), and 45-60 Gy is the usual amount to kill cancer. Anatoli Bugorski got a radiation dose 600 times the deadly amount, which should have killed him, but he was still able to walk somehow.
Bugorski continued to live a somewhat normal life, even working in science. A few days later, the skin on the back of Bugorski’s head and near his left nostril started peeling. This revealed the path where a beam had burned through his skin, skull, and brain tissue. The inside of his head kept burning away, and after two years, all the nerves on the left side were gone, making that side of his face paralyzed. Surprisingly, Bugorski didn’t die, and he could still function normally, even in his scientific work.
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In the first twelve years, the only sign of a problem was occasional seizures. In the last few years, he experienced six more severe seizures. His face shows a clear divide: the right side has aged, while the left side looks frozen from 19 years ago. When he concentrates, only half of his forehead wrinkles.
Because the Soviet Union kept everything related to nuclear energy secret, Bugorski didn’t talk about his accident for over a decade. Twice a year, he visited a Moscow radiation clinic to get examined and meet other nuclear-accident victims. Bugorski considered himself lucky compared to others with sad stories.
Bugorski used to be a symbol for Soviet and Russian radiation medicine, but when he applied for disabled status in 1996 to get free epilepsy medication, the doctors became less supportive. Now his story was no longer a secret, Bugorski wanted to make himself available to Western researchers. Unfortunately, he did not have the money to leave Protvino and go to the West. He believed he would be an interesting study for someone and saw his situation as an unintended test of survival after exposure to proton warfare.
He said, “This is, in effect, an unintended test of proton warfare,” he claims. More to the point, he believes, “I am being tested. The human capacity for survival is being tested.” (Source)
Bugorski didn’t die right away because of something called “stopping power.” Stopping power is a term in physics that talks about how well a material can slow down or absorb charged particles like electrons, protons, or ions as they go through it. This happens because of a thing called the Bragg Peak which is used in radiation therapy, especially in proton therapy, to treat cancer.. When a charged particle slows down and stops at a certain depth within the material, it releases its most energy at that point before having no energy left.
Anatoli Bugorski survived a serious accident with a proton accelerator. The Soviet Union broke up, and economic changes stopped the project. Bugorski still lives in Protvino with his wife and adult son. He has a hard time affording his epilepsy medicine because the city reduced funding for the institute where he used to work.
However, not everyone is blessed to live that long. On September 30, 1999, a Japanese man named Hisashi Ouchi was exposed to beyond-lethal levels of radiation. Doctors kept Ouchi alive for 83 days after he absorbed a very high level of radiation, 17 Sieverts, which is the most ever recorded for a person. They used blood transfusions and stem cell grafts to keep him alive. He had three heart attacks, but each time the doctors were able to bring him back to life. All of this was done because his family asked for it. He died of multiple organ failure on December 21, 1999.
