The molten stuff in this 1996 Chernobyl photo was so radioactive that anyone standing three feet away from it would be dead in less than two minutes. According to Atlas Obscura, “the man in this photo, Artur Korneyev, has likely visited this area more than anyone else, and in doing so has been exposed to more radiation than almost anyone in history.
Remarkably, he’s probably still alive. The story of how the United States got a hold of this singular photo of a human in the presence of this incredibly toxic material is itself fraught with mystery—almost as much as why someone would take what is essentially a selfie with a hunk of molten radiated lava.”
The famous photo of Chernobyl's most dangerous radioactive material was a selfie
