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.
March 21, 2013
The European Space Agency revealed new data, which indicates that the universe is 13.82 billion years old.
March 21, 2007
A National Day of Mourning began after three separate disasters occurred in Russia: first, a methane explosion in a Siberian coal mine (104 deaths); second, a fire that destroyed a retirement home (62 deaths); and third, a passenger plane crashed in central Russia (7 deaths).
March 21, 1971
World Forest Day was established by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
March 21, 1970
The First Earth Day proclamation was issued on the first day of Spring by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco. Later, April 22 (Lenin’s birthday on the Old Russian Calendar) was selected as the annual date to celebrate Earth Day.
March 21, 1942
Secret report during WWII suggested the name “plutonium” for artificial element 94 since it followed neptunium and uranium (elements 93 and 92). A paper by Glenn Seaborg and Arthur Wahl was kept secret until 1948. Since McMillan and Abelson had named neptunium after the planet that lies outside of the orbit of Uranus, the next element in the periodic table was named after the next planet, Pluto.
March 21, 1932
Tornadoes struck Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina. A total of 359 people died from 33 recorded tornadoes that persisted through the night.
March 21, 1877
Louis Pasteur, French chemist, began laboratory research on virulent anthrax bacteria during a devastating outbreak. “The Father of Medical Microbiology” determined the disease was caused by a living organism (anthrax bacillus), not by a related toxin. Pasteur was able to inoculate cattle and sheep with a vaccine made from a weakened strain of anthrax bacterium. He demonstrated that animals immunized by his vaccine survived, while the untreated control group died. He later produced an effective rabies vaccine.
March 21, 1826
Rensselaer School in Troy, New York was incorporated. Later, it became known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the first non-military engineering college in the United States. Richard Cartwright attended RPI during his freshman year in college — but not in 1826.
March 21, 1768
Baron Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier — French mathematician, Egyptologist and engineer — was born. He introduced an infinite mathematical series to aid in solving heat conduction equations. This analysis technique allows the function of any variable to be expanded into a series of multiples of the variable, which is now known as the Fourier series. His Fourier Transform method of solving differential equations spawned many new areas of study in mathematics and physics, including a branch of optics named after him.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
