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.
March 27, 1987
It was announced that radon gas was a serious health threat in Montgomery County, Missouri. Up to 50 deaths every year were suspected there due to radon exposure.
March 27, 1980
A Krielland oil platform in the North Sea collapsed, where 123 workers died. The investigative report concluded that the rig collapsed owing to a fatigue crack in one of its six bracings, which connected the collapsed leg to the rest of the rig. Further investigation found considerable amounts of lamellar tearing in the flange plate and cold cracks in the butt weld. Cold cracks in the welds, increased stress concentrations due to the weakened flange plate, the poor weld profile, and cyclical stresses (which would be common in the North Sea) collectively played a role in the rig’s collapse.
March 27, 1977
Two 747 jumbo jets crashed into each other on a runway at Canary Islands airport, where 582 people died. On a typical foggy afternoon, a KLM jet was cleared to taxi to the end of a single main runway. A Pan Am jet following behind it was to wait in an adjacent space while the KLM jet turned around to begin takeoff. Due to fog, the Pan Am pilot was unable to keep the KLM jet in sight and did not move into proper position. The KLM jet misunderstood flight controllers and began to take off down the runway before the Pan Am jet was able to move to a side space. The KLM jet slammed into the side of the Pan Am jet creating a huge fireball.
March 27, 1975
Construction began on the 789-mile-long Trans-Alaska Pipeline. It was the largest private construction project in American history.
March 27, 1964
The Good Friday earthquake (9.2-magnitude) struck southern Alaska, where 128 people died. Property damage was $311 million. In downtown Anchorage, 30 blocks of dwellings and commercial buildings were damaged or destroyed. A tsunami of more than 100 feet at several locations devastated towns along the Gulf of Alaska and caused carnage in British Columbia, Hawaii and along the U.S. west coast.
March 27, 1933
Polyethylene was discovered by English chemists, Gibson and Fawcett. It was one of earliest plastics to come into common use. It was discovered, by accident, when ethylene was reacting with benzaldehyde at high pressure. The demands of war and the need for a better insulator for cables stimulated development of polyethylene.
March 27, 1915
Mary Mallon was forcibly put into permanent quarantine by public health authorities after knowingly exposing 51 people, three of whom died, to typhoid. This abruptly ended her career as a household cook for several wealthy New York families. Although a typhoid carrier, doctors were surprised to find that “Typhoid Mary” did not herself become ill from the disease. Sadly, she died three decades later in total isolation.
March 27, 1899
Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor and entrepreneur, successfully transmitted a wireless message across the English Channel. His transmitter and receiver used a well-insulated copper wire, hung from a 150-foot high mast. Messages were exchanged over the 32 miles from France to England at a speed of up to 15 words a minute. Marconi’s experiments made communication possible without expensive undersea cables.
March 27, 1855
Abraham Gesner, Canadian Chemist, patented a process to distill bituminous shale and cannel coal into kerosene. He extracted the fuel via a dry distillation at a controlled temperature in a large cast-iron retorts set inside furnaces for evaporation with metal pipes surrounded by water for vapor condensation. The light volatile liquid obtained was redistilled and treated with acid and peroxide of manganese to precipitate impurities. Freshly calcined lime was then mixed with the distillate to remove water and neutralize the acid. Further distillation yielded kerosene. When it was found that kerosene could also be distilled from crude oil, it became America’s principal source of illumination until commercial electricity arrived.
March 27, 1845
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, was born. His discovery of X-rays, heralded the age of modern physics and revolutionized diagnostic medicine.
March 27, 1807
James Kirkwood, American civil engineer, was born. He authored the classic book “Report on the Filtration of River Waters”, which was the first book in any language to focus on filtration of municipal water supplies. Kirkwood’s book summarized his investigation, where he described the filters and filter galleries he visited at 19 European water works.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
