Yes, I recently read the book on him, "The Radioactive Boy Scout" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn Although, he did some things which were more dangerous yet than just putting together lots of smoke detector guts. He eventually figured out how to purify Thorium from Thoriated lantern mantles. He also managed to find a supply of Radium paint and to concentrate that, too, and put it together with, IIRC, Beryllium, which converted the alpha radiation into high energy neutrons. Interestingly, not all of the material he produced was ever recovered - some of it was thrown away in the municipal trash system and lost before the EPA and DOE could get to it. He lived, but has already exceeded his maximum lifetime dose (as defined for nuclear industry workers) and may very well get cancer from it eventually. Sean On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 9:02 AM, RussellMc wrote: >> It could be a health hazard to play with these but they are fairly >> safe unless you do stupid things (like grind up the sample, ... > >> or try to concentrate the material from many smoke detectors) > > Both of which have been done with a vengeance. He lived. > > > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 R > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .