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.
January 30, 2003
British-born “shoe bomber” Richard Reid was sentenced to life in prison after he tried to blow up a transatlantic flight from Paris to Miami. Note: Because of Richard Reid, passengers spent years taking their shoes off while negotiating through security at airports.
January 30, 2000
An earthen dam at a gold mining operation in Oradea, Romania broke. Thus, 3.5 million cubic feet of liquid cyanide waste spilled into the river Tisza, a tributary of the Danube. An estimated 80% of the fish in the Tisza died in what was the biggest ecological catastrophe in Europe since the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
January 30, 1950
President Truman ordered the development of a hydrogen fusion bomb (H-bomb). This thermonuclear device would have far greater destructive power than the fission bombs used to end WWII.
January 30, 1899
Max Theiler, American microbiologist, was born. He discovered that mice are susceptible to yellow fever. This facilitated research and the eventual development of a vaccine against the disease in humans.
January 30, 1894
Charles King, American inventor, received a patent for the pneumatic hammer. Inside his hammer, a piston in a cylinder was driven by air pressure to hit a striker and tool. Air was routed internally through ports alternately covered and uncovered by the piston at opposite ends of its oscillating travel.
January 30, 1815
Sir William Jenner, English physician and pathologist, was born. He was the first to recognize the difference between typhus and typhoid. For many years, these two diseases had been misdiagnosed as only one disease, “continued fever.” His reputation as a pathologist principally rests on making this distinction.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
