[Steely Tom]

My parents built me a home laboratory in our basement when I was in seventh grade. In it, I:

Made a carbon-arc furnace, boiled glass, projected image of this on wall (no welding glasses);

Isolated two antibiotics from cultures made from spores found in backyard soil. Demonstrated zone of inhibition. Injected into mice (using real hypodermic syringes, ordered through the mail from Fisher Scientific). Mice survived.

Built my own gas supply for bunsen burners, using a mouthwash bottle filled with alcohol, an aquarium air pump and airstone, and some 3/8-inch Tygon tubing.

Made a pulsed rocket engine that (crudely) exploited shockwave interference to compress fuel. Measured its specific impulse.

Built four-bit binary adder out of relays made from wood, nails, paper clips, and copper wire.

Much photography, developed myself. Delighted self with harmonograms made by pointing camera upward at flashlight hung from ceiling on a string, flashlight had paper pinhole baffle over lens, lights off in basement, opened shutter and let it record flashlight movements for ten minutes or so. Beautiful images of mathematics in action.

Some mild explosives "play." No nukes, though.

When I read this kid's story in Harper's, my heart and admiration went out to him. He did much, much more than I, and showed incredible tenacity. It was impossible not to notice the magazine's wierd tone, which seemed to imply that the kid was deeply disturbed, living in a fantasy world that was indicative of some kind of psycho-pathology, or maybe a mild form of retardation. This while simultaneously describing his overall success at demonstrating neutron production and change in atomic weight of some of his reaction product. In other words, he was a delusional nut who somehow accidently did actual nuclear chemestry in his backyard.

I would love to find out what became of him. I hope his health wasn't injured, but, on the other hand, I understand the joy that would have driven him to ignore the risks to pursue his vision.

(steely)

[mel]

That is interesting, what do you do now? I mean as far as work, were you able to parley (sp) that enthusiasm into a vocation>

[July 4th]

Some mild explosives "play." No nukes, though.

In middle school, one of our projects was building and launching model rockets. Naturally, my friends and I started building them outside of school with a few extras. Like warheads make out of low-level explosives. Man, those things were better than fireworks.

[Bernard Marx]

It was impossible not to notice the magazine's wierd tone, which seemed to imply that the kid was deeply disturbed, living in a fantasy world that was indicative of some kind of psycho-pathology, or maybe a mild form of retardation.

This is Harper's, remember? The second I read "nuclear" and "Harper's" in the same sentence I knew what the slant would be in that left wing pinko rag.

The editors clearly intend to scare the hell out of their liberal readers by implying that end-of-the-world breeder reactors can be built by any kid next door. By association, if he happens to be an evil Boy Scout working on merit badges, he's probably out to do in the World as We Know It. This is such a predictable hit piece it's almost laughable.

Your early experiments amused me. I recalled my adventures with a well-stocked Gilbert's Chemistry Set many years ago when you could purchase sulphuric acid, etc., at the corner drug store and potassium nitrate in the spice section at the grocery store (they labeled it saltpeter). I made hydrogen, fused glass, cranked out lots of home-built gunpowder, grew crystals, distilled alcohol, made carbide cannons, etc. I did minor damage to some unimportant property but didn't hurt anyone. I grew up to be a productive law-abiding adult with all my original parts. I even owned a Red Ryder BB gun (several, in fact) and still have both eyes.

[Chewbacca]

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

[ocean]

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

[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?

[Twinkie]

In my own laboratory, I, too, have done wonders.
Chocolate chip cookies, roasted chicken, potato salad,
cakes, pies, and the result of certain chemical
experiments using hydrogen, I have made iced tea. Even
taking plain water and solidifying it for the tea. -
In my off times, I do shadow puppets on the wall if the
mood strikes me, but so far I can only do a very crude
eagle and something that looks like a crab. -
Occasionally, I have a grease fire on the lab heating
elements, but I can't figure out formulas for cleaning
products yet.

[aruanan]

I understand the joy that would have driven him to ignore the risks to pursue his vision.

You got that right. And the joy is precisely what appears to be targeted by most K-12 schools.

[Libertina]

How about that young boy in the heartland who built rockets, big ones, and the farmers around him allowed him the use of their land to launch. He now works for NASA. I am afraid that it's difficult for kids to get to be able to do things like that now - heck, even the adults would be in trouble for launching rockets. ;) (Though this kid made out pretty well!)