1 Astronaut
Since manned spaceflight began in 1961, 24 US astronauts have died in
astro-action — 10 during launch, six during training flights, and
seven on reentry. In 1971, three Soviet cosmonauts suffocated when a
malfunction caused the oxygen to leak out of their ship. Then there’s
that whole riding-an- explosion-into-space thing. And we haven’t even
found aliens yet.
2 Biosafety Level 4 lab researcher
BSL-4 labs handle the deadliest diseases on Earth. In 2004, a Russian
scientist died after accidentally sticking herself with an Ebola-laced
needle. The death occurred only months after a US scientist at the
Army’s BSL-4 lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland made the same mistake…
and survived.
3 Hurricane hunter
The Air Force’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron crew members are
the daredevils of meteorology. They fly WC-130s into a hurricane’s
eyewall, 10,000 feet up, to locate the storm’s pressure center and
measure its wind speed. Not surprisingly, some get a little turned
around. Even on the ground, they’re not safe — Hurricane Katrina
destroyed the squad’s home base.
4 Doctors Without Borders mobile lab tech
Testing blood for sleeping sickness — an infectious disease
transmitted by flies that causes brain swelling, heart failure,
insomnia, and an uncontrollable urge to sleep — is dangerous
enough. Now just imagine doing it at an outdoor mobile lab in the
middle of the ongoing genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.
5 Propulsion engineer
Turns out, the people who ground-test rocket engines don’t actually
worry about explosions. When you work with cryogenic oxygen and gases
pressurized up to 300 psi, you’re far too busy worrying about “cold
burns” and other trauma to really give proper consideration to what
might happen should one of the buggers completely ignite.
6 Grad student
Even the most mundane job in science is hazardous if you don’t know
what you’re doing. Grad students in labs around the world are in
constant danger of, well, screwing up. In 2004, a Texas A&M
student, for example, was cleaning up a laboratory when a jar of
chemicals he was handling suddenly exploded, leaving him with severe
lacerations and burns.
7 Volcanologist
Active volcanoes blow enough ash to bury a city the size of, oh,
Pompeii. No wonder many volcanologists don’t come back from their
helicopter visits to hell. In 1991, three were killed by Japan’s Mount
Unzen. In 2001, one died after falling off a 985-foot-high caldera rim,
and in 2005, four Filipino researchers died in a chopper crash while
inspecting landslide areas.
8 Biologist
Animal research can lead to more than an allergic reaction. Being
bitten, scratched, or exposed to “secretions” can be deadly. For
example, at least 70 percent of captive adult macaque monkeys are
infected with herpes B. In 1997, a 22-year-old researcher died after
contracting the virus from some “biologic” monkey material that got in
her eye.
Illustrations by Thomas Fuchs
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