How These People Survived The Impossible

The 1978 award for the most sci-fi near death experience goes to Anatoli Bugorski, who was shot through the head with a particle beam, and survived. In the 1970s, Bugorski was part of a Soviet research program that was working with a particle accelerator. The once where Bugorski worked is called the U-70 at

The 1978 award for the most sci-fi near death experience goes to Anatoli Bugorski, who was shot through the head with a particle beam, and survived.

In the 1970s, Bugorski was part of a Soviet research program that was working with a particle accelerator. The once where Bugorski worked is called the U-70 — at the time, it was the most powerful accelerator in the world, except for on July 13, 1978, when it malfunctioned. Bugorski was sent to check on it, and while he was getting up close and personal with the science experiment, something went wrong and his head got in the way of the particle beam. The beam entered his head on the back left, and passed through exiting to the left of his nose. He reported seeing a bright flash ... and that's it. There was no explosion, no screaming — just your standard real world science accident.

A few days later, the left side of his face had swollen up, and the skin and hair around the entry and exit points had peeled off. However, despite being hit by enough radiation to convince doctors he was a goner, he pulled through. Bugorski survived because, in order to maximize the number of collisions in the accelerator, the proton beams are very focused. Though the beam had tremendous power, it only affected the very small area of the brain that it actually passed through. It also helped that the beam appears to have missed the really important parts, and the brain is so good at adapting to injury, his was able to rewire itself well enough that he was later able to complete his PhD.

Now, if this were a movie, he might have gained superpowers from all this. However, since actual science isn't nearly as cool, he had to settle with the not-very-useful superpower of having no feeling in the left side of his face. The nerve damage he received on the left side of his face caused paralysis, so even after nearly 30 years, it has almost no wrinkles. This makes him both Dorian Gray and the picture of Dorian Gray, all in one convenient package.

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