THE RADIOACTIVE BOY SCOUT: THE TRUE STORY OF A BOY AND HIS BACKYARD NUCLEAR REACTOR

Christian Science Monitor ^ | Tim Rauschenberg

[ocean]

I made a napkin holder in seventh grade, though it wasn't radioactive.

[cynicom]

Napkin holder? Fell out of my hi-chair with that one. I made a wooden step stool. Was horrible. When we were ranked for brains, I was always in the "other" listing.

[bondjamesbond]

When I was young, we called it "Kid Engineering".

The principles of Kid Engineering are few and immutable.

1) A 20-penny nail is the strongest thing in the world.

2) It is possible to climb the tallest tree, as long as you don't run out of wood blocks and 20-penny nails.

3) If the ice supports your dog, it will support you too.

4) There is no theoretical limit of how far one can safely fall, as long as the distance is increased in one-foot increments.

5) There is no mechanical device that cannot be improved by the addition of Estes-Brand^TM model rocket engines.

There were other principles, but I have forgotten them over the years.

[patton]

Too wierd. used to live at 1810 S West.

[MisterFIXIT1983]

Hmm about the Asains whipping our behinds in math... Funny that I only recently was in highschool and myself met many a forign exchange student... no more intellegent than we Americans... In fact I remember helping one with a few math problems myself... And I am the MOST horrible math student ever... The fact is our kids who excell in American math could whip the pants off the asains... We have the WORST teaching design when it comes to math... The asains and many others teach at least 3 ways of solving a problem. I remember solving a math problem sucessfully a diffrent way and receiving an F because it wasnt the 'taught' way... No wonder we apear to be crappy mathamaticians(sp)... On tha othar hand we is exselent spellars! =)

[Steely Tom]

Something else I remember about the article. The author speaks from a strange point of view, as I recall, constantly implying that David Hahn was delusional, and that all the things he did were simply the result of his need to feed his delusion. The thing that's funny is that he (the author, Ken Silverstein) also infuses the story with dark paranoia resulting from David Hahn's success. In other words, the author tries to have it both ways, even though the evidence is absolutely clear that he can only have it one way: David Hahn is a highly motivated, driven, committed, passionate young man who did something great under very trying circumstances, as a result of (in my humble opinion) exceptional creativity, understanding of the fundamentals (and well beyond), and most of all, an unbelievable level of energy, tenacity, and constancy of purpose.

I think David Hahn should have gotten a medal from the President.

It was impossible to understand from the article whether David Hahn was actually highly gifted. The author did everything he could to make it sound like David Hahn was just "acting out" a sort of fantasy, like someone who sets aside a room in their house for a shrine to Bjork, and goes around telling people he and she are engaged, etc. The facts say otherwise. It is impossible for me to believe that David Hahn could have done these things without a great deal of pure intelligence. Actions speak louder than words, a concept anathema to Harper's and its readers.

On a personal level...

I had a Gilbert's Chemestry Set too, when I was in third grade. Not the super-big one with three hinged sections; I only got the two bay one. Remember the cobalt chloride? Remember the "deflageration spoon?"

As far as books for young scientists go, I remember these books by a guy named Morgan; they were about 50 years old when I found them in the town library. They described how to make solid and liquid fueled rockets, as well as other things. One chapter I remember well explained in great detail how to make a sail-driven ice-scooter, with sharpened steed blades made from old automotive leaf-springs. This thing was big, big enough for a boy of 10 or 12 to ride on. Extensive drawings, explainations of how to grind the springs into blades, how to make the sail, etc.

I was also heavily influenced by the marvellous "Amateur Scientist" feature in Scientific American. At that time it was "conducted" (his word) by someone named C. L. Strong. I awaited each month's issue with baited breath. Mr. Strong described projects for making several lasers (ruby, HeNe, argon, and CO2), a particle accelerator using a home-made Van Der Graff generator, an infrared specrometer, a gas chromatograph using laundry detergent as a column fill medium, an electrostatic motor powered by an antenna flown from a helium balloon, a supersonic wind tunnel made from a vacuum pump and an old hot water heater tank, along with a Schleren camera for imaging the shock waves that developed around objects positioned in its throat region, and many, many other fascinating projects. I duplicated several of the (less ambitious ones). In those days (mid '60s through early '70's), Scientific American was a fantastic magazine, nothing like the silly left-wing pseudo-magazine it had degenerated into.

Today I am an Electrical Engineer, with a masters degree. I write pattern recognition algorithms for machine vision. I have three patents, with more on the way (if I can find money to pay attorney's fees). My "laboratory" is almost entirely contained in personal computers, which are one of the wonders of our age. I often say that if Leonardo da Vinci or Ben Franklen, or Humphrey Davy were alive today and could see the tools we have to work with, they would say "why aren't you rich?" As, of course, even the poorest of we Americans are, relatively speaking.

(steely)

[Consort]

[netmilsmom]

Do you glow?

[Steely Tom]

I read about this kid in Readers Digest. He went on to Navy Nuclear school and became a submariner.

I am so glad! Thanks, Chewy, you made my day! What a great resolution to the story! This outcome fills me with happiness.

(steely)

[patton]

Yep. A blueish-green colour, actually.

[netmilsmom]

Wow! Cool!

[Petronski]

This story seems far too strange to be true. I have got to get this book. Absolutely remarkable and fascinating.

[cinFLA]

I think David Hahn should have gotten a medal from the President.

Why? The kid was great at endangering himself, his family and neighbors. He made NO breakthroughs that are not included in a first year nuclear engineering textbook. He could have saved himself a lot of time by reading one instead of writing 20 letters a day to get the same information that he could have gotten in ten minutes from the local bookstore.

[Petronski]

I even owned a Red Ryder BB gun (several, in fact) and still have both eyes.

Oh miracle of miracles! How did you ever do that?

[cinFLA]

I think David Hahn should have gotten a medal from the President.

"I wanted to make a scratch in life," he explains now. "I've still got time." Of his exposure to radioactivity he says, "I don't believe I took more than five years off my life."

[Cooter]

I read about this kid in Readers Digest. He went on to Navy Nuclear school and became a submariner.

Actually, David joined the Navy and was a seaman aboard the nuclear-powered aricraft carrier, the USS Enterprise. He did not work on any of the ship's nuclear reactors.

USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Crew List

Hahn, David C. SN 1998 - 2001 Served in Deck Dept.

[Law is not justice but process]

I've got to know: with such an interesting youth, what career did you pursue? My young mad scientist days were mostly filled with horticultural and zoological studies and I ended up a criminal prosecutor (after a brief detour to get a PhD). I envision you as either a physics professor or a dot com millionaire. Am I anywhere close?

[Law is not justice but process]

Ain't that the truth? We should award such creativity. Maybe we could give him Hans Blix's old job?

[Law is not justice but process]

"I read about this kid in Readers Digest.
He went on to Navy Nuclear school and became a submariner"

Now that's a happy ending!

[Bernard Marx]

Oh miracle of miracles! How did you ever do that?

There was a rule that my Dad enforced very strenuously: Don't *ever* do stupid things with firearms, even play guns or BB guns. I didn't.