In case anyone else is curious about the guy that Rodney talked about in "Trinity" (complete with the gory details of his demise):
http://members.tripod.com/~Arnold_Dion/Daghlian/bio.html
I'm actually a little surprised that they didn't use Louis Slotin instead of Daghlian in the episode -- Slotin was a Canadian researcher on the Manhattan Project and friend of Daghlian's who died a year later in a similar way. He died a hero, stopping a supercritical experiment before it could kill others in the room. I'm sure Rodney would have thought of him.
http://www.childrenofthemanhattanproject.org/FH/LA/Louis_Slotin_1.htm