14 ms·

The Radioactive Boy Scout (1999)

87 points by napolux 9y ago

stupidcomments 9y ago
You would think he would be encouraged to get an internship or something, who knows, could have been the next Marie Curie. Instead, got his face fried. I think this points to a problem in our society, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe his parents (ah wait, maybe wasn't living at home? Not sure of the articles time frame) / teachers were hoping he would spring a one-off nuclear reactor startup from secret and make them billionaires?
anfractuosity 9y ago
There's also an interesting documentary with Hahn going through some of the methods he used, called 'The Nuclear Boy Scout'.
- themodelplumber 9y ago
  Wow, interesting is kind of an understatement. I found it a bit disturbing. The guy is still basically asking for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Uuex4VZPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Uuex4VZPE Edit: Looks like he died in 2016 of alcohol poisoning. :(
  - mlaretallack 9y ago
    Just read the Wikipedia entry. "Hahn died on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, at the age of 39. At the time, he was a resident of Shelby Charter Township, Michigan.[1][14]Hahn's father has since confirmed that the cause of death was alcohol poisoning.[15]" It could of been so much different...
  - skate22 9y ago
    A real life Rick
    - tentaTherapist 9y ago
      I... why? There was no need to compare this talented guy with an over-the-top, megalomaniacal and egocentric scientist from a sci-fi cartoon.
      - skate22 9y ago
        Did not mean it as an insult
CaliforniaKarl 9y ago
Link to the original article, which is still online: https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/ https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scou... So this should probably be marked (1998) And looks like the article was discussed five (!!) years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=611583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=611583 And then Ars brought it up a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768
- astrodust 9y ago
  The half-life on this story is pretty long.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
leggomylibro 9y ago
Heh, this story is always interesting when it comes up. The Harper's article is well-written, too. It just boggles the mind that this kid actually made a frickin' unshielded nuclear reactor core. He actually did it, the absolute madman. I like how the police brought him in as a kid for having a nuclear device, he made a superfund site out of the whole deal, and he still grew up to work aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier. The Navy must have known, right? I wonder what those conversations must have been like. Also, I am super not surprised that Wikipedia says, "He was inspired in part by reading The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments." That book is just goatshit insane; the '60s were clearly a silly time, because the 'also by this author' section includes The Golden Book of Wild Animal Pets. Which, uh...I don't know. I got nothing. Anyways, it's public domain, but before you hand it to a young child be warned that it includes phrases like, "making Hydrogen in the lab," and "have a bottle of household ammonia to sniff if you get too strong a whiff of Chlorine." Yikes. https://archive.org/details/GoldenBookOfChemistryExperiments https://archive.org/details/GoldenBookOfChemistryExperiments
- a_t48 9y ago
  Comeon, making Hydrogen isn't that crazy, you just hook up a 9V battery to a glass of water. Edit: skimmed the book. They first make Hydrogen through electrolysis (cool!). Then they make it from hydro-chloric acid (cool! also dangerous!).
  - leggomylibro 9y ago
    Yeah, but most books don't go into detail for separating the resulting hydrogen and oxygen, testing for hydrogen by burning it, or observing the difference in using hydrogen and oxygen to burn things. Sure, it's easy to observe, but be careful... I do really like the book's can-do attitude, though.
    - a_t48 9y ago
      Yeah, especially as it says your lab can be in your bedroom or basement. Generating larger amounts of flammable gas indoors and burning it is less sane.
schneems 9y ago
He's dead now :( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn Another related good read is "The Boy Who Played with Fusion: Extreme Science, Extreme Parenting, and How to Make a Star".
- burntrelish1273 9y ago
  There's always Taylor Wilson, Colin Furze and others to carry the torch of mischief. :D
marklyon 9y ago
A kid on Ars Technica did something similar. [0] https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=155929 https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=155929
JoeDaDude 9y ago
To repeat a post I made earlier [1]: It is tragic that a child and later teen with so much curiosity and interest in science was not able to get the guidance he needed to channel his drive into a more rewarding and productive life. I suspect many HN readers will see a lot of themselves in David, as did I, and wish things could have turned out differently. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12951194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12951194
- Gatsky 9y ago
  There is that, but it also appears that he had a poorly managed mental illness - this is as much a part of the sad outcome as anything else.
webbrahmin 9y ago
I remember reading this in Readers Digest way back in the early 90s.
mysterypie 9y ago
Hahn died a year ago, age 39, likely due to fentanyl. Wikipedia says he died of alcohol poisoning[1], however the actual medical examiner's report says, "intoxication by the combined effects of alcohol, fentanyl and diphrenhydramine."[2] It goes on to say that the blood alcohol concentration was 0.404 mg/dL. Unless there's a misplaced decimal point, that level is almost nothing; it's a trace of alcohol. The legal limit for drunk driving in all 50 states is 80 mg/dL, or two hundred times greater than what he had. Diphenhydramine, also mentioned by the medical examiner, is an over-the-counter anti-allergy medicine. It is apparently used as an intensifier for opioids (like fentanyl). So it seems his death was really caused by fentanyl. The medical examiner mentions alcohol only because he has to state all factors no matter how minor. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn [2] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3517279-1-Page-Fax-From-15616828151.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3517279-1-Page-Fax-F...

87 points by napolux 9y ago

You would think he would be encouraged to get an internship or something, who knows, could have been the next Marie Curie. Instead, got his face fried. I think this points to a problem in our society, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe his parents (ah wait, maybe wasn't living at home? Not sure of the articles time frame) / teachers were hoping he would spring a one-off nuclear reactor startup from secret and make them billionaires?

anfractuosity 9y ago

There's also an interesting documentary with Hahn going through some of the methods he used, called 'The Nuclear Boy Scout'.

themodelplumber 9y ago
Wow, interesting is kind of an understatement. I found it a bit disturbing. The guy is still basically asking for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Uuex4VZPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Uuex4VZPE Edit: Looks like he died in 2016 of alcohol poisoning. :(
- mlaretallack 9y ago
  Just read the Wikipedia entry. "Hahn died on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, at the age of 39. At the time, he was a resident of Shelby Charter Township, Michigan.[1][14]Hahn's father has since confirmed that the cause of death was alcohol poisoning.[15]" It could of been so much different...
- skate22 9y ago
  A real life Rick
  - tentaTherapist 9y ago
    I... why? There was no need to compare this talented guy with an over-the-top, megalomaniacal and egocentric scientist from a sci-fi cartoon.
    - skate22 9y ago
      Did not mean it as an insult

CaliforniaKarl 9y ago

Link to the original article, which is still online: https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/ https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scou... So this should probably be marked (1998) And looks like the article was discussed five (!!) years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=611583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=611583 And then Ars brought it up a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12957768

astrodust 9y ago
The half-life on this story is pretty long.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

leggomylibro 9y ago

Heh, this story is always interesting when it comes up. The Harper's article is well-written, too. It just boggles the mind that this kid actually made a frickin' unshielded nuclear reactor core. He actually did it, the absolute madman. I like how the police brought him in as a kid for having a nuclear device, he made a superfund site out of the whole deal, and he still grew up to work aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier. The Navy must have known, right? I wonder what those conversations must have been like. Also, I am super not surprised that Wikipedia says, "He was inspired in part by reading The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments." That book is just goatshit insane; the '60s were clearly a silly time, because the 'also by this author' section includes The Golden Book of Wild Animal Pets. Which, uh...I don't know. I got nothing. Anyways, it's public domain, but before you hand it to a young child be warned that it includes phrases like, "making Hydrogen in the lab," and "have a bottle of household ammonia to sniff if you get too strong a whiff of Chlorine." Yikes. https://archive.org/details/GoldenBookOfChemistryExperiments https://archive.org/details/GoldenBookOfChemistryExperiments

a_t48 9y ago
Comeon, making Hydrogen isn't that crazy, you just hook up a 9V battery to a glass of water. Edit: skimmed the book. They first make Hydrogen through electrolysis (cool!). Then they make it from hydro-chloric acid (cool! also dangerous!).
- leggomylibro 9y ago
  Yeah, but most books don't go into detail for separating the resulting hydrogen and oxygen, testing for hydrogen by burning it, or observing the difference in using hydrogen and oxygen to burn things. Sure, it's easy to observe, but be careful... I do really like the book's can-do attitude, though.
  - a_t48 9y ago
    Yeah, especially as it says your lab can be in your bedroom or basement. Generating larger amounts of flammable gas indoors and burning it is less sane.

schneems 9y ago

He's dead now :( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn Another related good read is "The Boy Who Played with Fusion: Extreme Science, Extreme Parenting, and How to Make a Star".

burntrelish1273 9y ago
There's always Taylor Wilson, Colin Furze and others to carry the torch of mischief. :D

marklyon 9y ago

A kid on Ars Technica did something similar. [0] https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=155929 https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=155929

JoeDaDude 9y ago

To repeat a post I made earlier [1]: It is tragic that a child and later teen with so much curiosity and interest in science was not able to get the guidance he needed to channel his drive into a more rewarding and productive life. I suspect many HN readers will see a lot of themselves in David, as did I, and wish things could have turned out differently. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12951194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12951194

Gatsky 9y ago
There is that, but it also appears that he had a poorly managed mental illness - this is as much a part of the sad outcome as anything else.

webbrahmin 9y ago

I remember reading this in Readers Digest way back in the early 90s.

mysterypie 9y ago

Hahn died a year ago, age 39, likely due to fentanyl. Wikipedia says he died of alcohol poisoning[1], however the actual medical examiner's report says, "intoxication by the combined effects of alcohol, fentanyl and diphrenhydramine."[2] It goes on to say that the blood alcohol concentration was 0.404 mg/dL. Unless there's a misplaced decimal point, that level is almost nothing; it's a trace of alcohol. The legal limit for drunk driving in all 50 states is 80 mg/dL, or two hundred times greater than what he had. Diphenhydramine, also mentioned by the medical examiner, is an over-the-counter anti-allergy medicine. It is apparently used as an intensifier for opioids (like fentanyl). So it seems his death was really caused by fentanyl. The medical examiner mentions alcohol only because he has to state all factors no matter how minor. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn [2] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3517279-1-Page-Fax-From-15616828151.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3517279-1-Page-Fax-F...