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.
May 29, 1953
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Nearly 200 climbers have died attempting to summit the world’s highest mountain. Low oxygen levels, freezing cold, and blizzard conditions make the climb extremely hazardous.
May 29, 1951
James Clapp and Richard Roblin, research chemists at American Cyanamid, received a drug patent for sulfonamide. Sulfa drugs are members of a group of synthetic antibacterial drugs containing sulfanilamide molecular structure. Sulfonamides were the first chemical substances that were systematically used to cure and prevent bacterial infections in humans. Of the 5,000 sulfa drugs prepared and tested, today fewer than 20 continue to have therapeutic value because resistant strains of bacteria have developed.
May 29, 1932
Paul Ehrlich, American biologist and educator, was born. He was a pioneer in alerting the public to problems of overpopulation and limited natural resources.
May 29, 1919
Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was proved by Sir Arthur Eddington, British astrophysicist, when a solar eclipse permitted observation of bending starlight passing through the sun’s gravitational field. This was a key prediction of Einstein’s theory that gravity affected energy in addition to a similar effect on matter.
May 29, 1914
Two boats collided during heavy fog on the St. Lawrence River in Canada, where 1,073 people died. The standard procedure is to come to a complete stop when visibility is reduced to virtually nothing. The coal freighter had only slowed down when it rammed a passenger liner mid-ship and sliced through its hull. The captain of the freighter made matters even worse by failing to reverse the engines after the crash. He continued directly ahead, crushing many people on board and turning the passenger ship over onto its side. Its captain later told investigators he had feared reversing would have allowed water to rush into the hole. This was a colossal error.
May 29, 1781
John Walker, English chemist and inventor, was born. He invented friction matches, which were small wooden sticks coated with sulfur, tipped with a mixture of potassium chlorate and antimony sulfide with a binder of gum arabic.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
