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.
February 20, 2003
A fire occurred during a Great White rock concert, killing 100, at The Station, a Rhode Island nightclub. Pyrotechnics were set off behind the performers, which set fire to soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling. Black smoke-filled club’s interior within minutes. A desperate rush of people to the front entrance caused a pile-up, trapping people where they stood. More than 230 were injured.
February 20, 1986
The Soviet Union launched the space station, Mir (Russian word for peace). It had six docking ports and special laboratories for scientific research. Five additional modules were launched between 1987 and 1996.
February 20, 1962
John Glenn, American astronaut, was successfully launched into orbit. He completed three-orbits around Earth at a maximum altitude of 162 miles and orbital velocity of 17,500 mph. He spotted Perth, Australia, when that city’s residents greeted him by switching on their house lights in unison. Glenn returned to space 36 years later, making 134 more orbits as a crew member of the space shuttle Discovery.
February 20, 1947
A chemical mixing error at an electroplating plant caused an explosion that destroyed 42 blocks in Los Angeles. The plant was using a new aluminum plating process, which employed concentrated perchloric acid. This acid is so volatile it must be kept under constant refrigeration. Unfortunately, a breakdown in the plant refrigeration system an hour earlier exacerbated the risk of explosion. The mushrooming blast was so deafening that people several miles from the scene said they believed an atom bomb had fallen.
A volcano erupted in a farmer’s corn field 200 miles west of Mexico City. It gave the modern world its first opportunity to witness the birth of a volcano. Within two years, its slow-moving lava flows buried most of the town of Paricutin.
February 20, 1934
Ernest Lawrence, American inventor and physicist, received a patent for the cyclotron, which accelerates ions in a circular path within a vacuum chamber via oscillations of a strong magnetic field. Spurred by a report that many elements could become radioactive upon hydrogen ion bombardment, Lawrence applied his invention to bombarding nitrogen in a cyclotron to produce artificial radioactivity.
February 20, 1902
Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist, was born. His black and white photos of sweeping Western landscapes become icons of the conservation movement. He said, “We all know the tragedy of the dustbowls, the cruel unforgivable erosion of the soil, the depletion of fish or game, and the shrinking of the noble forests. And we know that such catastrophes shrivel the spirit of the people…. The wilderness is pushed back, man is everywhere. Solitude, so vital to the individual man, is almost nowhere.” Ansel Adams served on the Sierra Club board of directors from 1934 until 1971.
February 20, 1901
René (Jules) Dubos, American microbiologist, environmentalist, and author, was born in France. He pioneered research in isolating antibacterial substances from certain soil microorganisms and the discovery of major antibiotics. He discovered ribonuclease, an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of ribonucleic acid (RNA). It is a nucleic acid molecule like DNA, but containing ribose rather than deoxyribose. RNA is formed upon a DNA template. Dubos showed that a soil bacterium was capable of decomposing a starch-like capsule of pneumococcus bacterium, rendering it harmless (unable to cause pneumonia).
February 20, 1862
President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln were grief stricken when their 11-year-old son, Willie, died from typhoid fever. This deadly disease, which killed hundreds of thousands every year, was usually contracted by consuming fecal contaminated food or water. The bad news was the White House drew its water from the Potomac River, where thousands of soldiers and horses were camped. The good news is that in the early 20th century, public health professionals and sanitary engineers were finally able to break the death spiral of sewage-contaminated drinking water.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
