Today in Hazmat History – August 2

Hazmat History

By Richard T. Cartwright, PE, CHMM, (IHMM, AHMP and APICS) Fellow

The saying, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” is more than a cliché. It is a reminder that we must constantly be learning from the past. Here’s a look back at major historical events that happened today in the world of hazardous materials.


August 2, 1978

Air and water test results in Love Canal resident basements were first made public. The New York State Health Commissioner announced that Love Canal was a great and imminent peril to the health of the public. He suggested that pregnant women and children younger than two living in high-exposure areas leave their homes. The announcement enraged homeowners who took matters into their own hands. They organized the Love Canal Homeowners Association to inflict added pressure on officials to buy their contaminated homes. Soon afterward, President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal disaster site. The Love Canal tragedy led to the development of the federal Superfund program, which aids in cleanup of toxic waste sites that could pose significant risks to the health and well-being of those living, working or playing around these sites.

August 2, 1939

Albert Einstein, an American theoretical physicist (born in Germany), wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt, urging “watchfulness and, if necessary, quick” on the part of the U.S. in atomic research. Einstein, a lifelong pacifist, feared that Nazi Germany had begun work on an atomic bomb. Expatriate physicists Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller, profoundly disturbed by lack of American atomic action, enlisted Einstein’s aid, hoping a letter from the renowned scientist would help attract Roosevelt’s attention. After reading Einstein’s letter, Roosevelt created the Uranium Committee and the secret atomic program that became known as the Manhattan Project.

August 2, 1938

A New York Times newspaper article announced that Americans would soon brush their teeth with nylon-bristle toothbrushes, instead of hog bristles. This was the first commercial use of a revolutionary silky synthetic plastic. Nylon bristle toothbrushes had four guarantees: No bristle shedding, 100% waterproofed, longer life and greater cleansing power. Nylon polymer use in women’s stockings soon followed.

August 2, 1932

Carl Anderson, American physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate, discovered the positron (antiparticle of the electron).

August 2, 1835

Elisha Gray, American scientist and innovator, was born. He would have been known to us as the inventor of the telephone if Alexander Graham Bell hadn’t got to the patent office before him earlier that day. He designed a telegraph printer, an answer-back callbox of the A.D.T. System, and a needle annunciator. Gray created the first electronic musical instrument after discovering the basic single note oscillator and design of a simple loudspeaker device.


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