
The Radioactive Boy Scout (1999) - napolux
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html?resub
======
mysterypie
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-F...](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3517279-1-Page-Fax-
From-15616828151.html)

------
leggomylibro
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
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
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
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.

~~~
wavefunction
As long as you have proper ventilation what's the real issue?

Yes, I may have investigated installing a chemical hood in my house, but it
was all theoretical... for now.

~~~
leggomylibro
Sheets of acrylic can make great housings for things like this; they're
transparent, and a plastics shop will cut you panels to size for cheap. One
example of an instrument you can make with acrylics is a gel electrophoresis
box:

[http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/build_gel_bo...](http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/build_gel_box.pdf)

Some chemicals can dissolve plastics, but hey. It's cheap, sturdy, and easy to
assemble. Acrylic cement has the consistency of turpentine and sets pretty
quickly.

------
CaliforniaKarl
Link to the original article, which is still online:
[https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-
scou...](https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/)

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
The half-life on this story is pretty long.

------
JoeDaDude
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
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.

------
schneems
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
There's always Taylor Wilson, Colin Furze and others to carry the torch of
mischief. :D

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

~~~
themodelplumber
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. :(

~~~
skate22
A real life Rick

~~~
tentaTherapist
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
Did not mean it as an insult

------
marklyon
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)

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

