The Radioactive Boy Scout
by Ken Silverstein · first published 2004
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8HN commenters
2012–2025first – last mentioned
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Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science, and his basement experiments--building homemade fireworks, brewing moonshine, and concocting his own self-tanning lotion--were more ambitious than those of other boys. While working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David's obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a nuclear breeder reactor in his backyard garden shed.In The Radioactive Boy Scout, veteran journalist Ken Silverstein recreates in brilliant detail the months of David's impro
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You can read the book about The Radioactive Boy Scout: https://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boyscout-Story-Nuclear-Re... But IIRC the everyday items were smoke detectors with Americium and uranium from old painted clock dials. I think he found a full vial…
on ““Radioactive Boy Scout” who tried to build a homemade nuclear reactor dead at 39” ↗And, as added reading, The Radioactive Boy Scout. Just for a perspective on how abundant and readily available that information had become in academia a few decades later.
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗You should really read "The Radioactive Boy Scout", about a teenager who attempts to build a nuclear reactor. The EPA ends up dismantling his shed in moon suits. https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scou...
on “A home-made lithographically-fabricated integrated circuit” ↗The book is The Radioactive Boyscout http://www.amazon.com/The-Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backyard/dp/... I read the book. from what I remember he started with smoke detectors and worked his way up from there. Just a few letters to some supply houses saying he was a researcher or something.…
on “How the Curiosity Rover's Nuclear Battery Works” ↗The author of the Harper's piece also expanded it into a 2004 book: https://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backyard-Nuclea...
on “The Radioactive Boy Scout (1998)” ↗…source[1] therefore we shouldn't control nuclear material. I just don't think this argument, taken to its logical conclusion, is valid. Is there a better way of reformulating it? 1. Silverstein, K. (2005). Radioactive boy scout: The frightening true story of a whiz kid and his homemade nuclear reactor. Turtleback Books.
on “Irish State announce plan to build a porn preference register for most of the EU” ↗And nukes! Its been a while since I read "The Radioactive Boy Scout" and after rereading it I'm defintely going to keep my kid close as he goes through TCOR's black powder and other experiments. The truth is far more bizarre: the Golf Manor Superfund cleanup was provoked…
I read the book "The Radioactive Boy Scout" not too long ago. Ultimately, 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…
on “Radioactive Boyscout (David Hahn: Oct 30, 1976 – Sep 27, 2016)” ↗