By Richard T. Cartwright, PE, CHMM, (IHMM, AHMP and APICS) Fellow.
Richard died April 21, 2025; honoring the work he did with hazmat history is one small way to keep his memory alive.
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.
December 26, 2004
An earthquake (9.1-magnitude) struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, creating a monster tsunami. The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake (the third largest earthquake recorded since 1900) lasted 10 minutes and killed 227,898 people. The megathrust earthquake moved 750 miles of underwater fault line earth up to 40 feet. Waves traveling 500 mph reached up to 100 feet in some places. The epicenter was at the western end of the area known as Ring of Fire for its intense seismic activity. This region has more than 80% of the world’s largest earthquakes.
December 26, 1905
Nellie Bly, American inventor, patented a metal barrel which became today’s 55-gallon steel drum. She later proudly claimed, “I am the only manufacturer in the country who can produce a certain type of steel barrel for which there is an immense demand at present, for the transportation of oil, gasoline, and other liquids.”
December 26, 1898
Marie Sklodowska Curie, Polish-born French scientist and Nobel Prize Laureate, discovered the radioactive element radium while experimenting with pitchblende, a common uranium ore. She had observed that this ore was more radioactive than refined uranium. This indicated that there must be another element, even more radioactive than uranium, mixed in with this ore. Marie Curie repeatedly filtered and crystallized three tons of pitchblende. Her final refined sample yield was 0.1 gram of the elemental radium. This was enough for spectroscopic examination and to determine the exact atomic weight of radium. This discovery, along with element polonium, earned her a second Nobel Prize.
December 26, 1861
Emil Wiechert, German pioneer seismologist, was born. His first seismograph was a horizontal-pendulum instrument, which recorded photographically. Wiechert used an inverted pendulum stabilized by springs, which was free to oscillate in any direction horizontally. His seismograph is still used, in essentially its original form, in some modern seismological observatories.
December 26, 1791
Charles Babbage, English mathematician and mechanical computation pioneer, was born. He developed a programmable analytical machine, which was a forerunner of modern computers. His other inventions included a cowcatcher, a dynamometer, a standard railroad gauge, a system of uniform postal rates, Greenwich Time signals, and heliograph ophthalmoscope.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
