Hahn was a Boy Scout. He was interested in chemistry. He spent years doing amateur chemistry experiments. Those experiments sometimes made small explosions. He was inspired by reading "The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments", and he tried to get samples of every element in the periodic table. This included the radioactive ones. He later received a merit badge in Atomic Energy. He became interested with the idea of building a breeder reactor in his home. Hahn got a lot of radioactive material by collecting small amounts from household products. It included things such as americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles, radium from clocks, and tritium from gunsights. His "reactor" was a bored-out block of lead, and he used lithium from $1,000 worth of bought batteries to purify the thorium ash using a Bunsen burner.