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.
November 29, 1951
The first U.S. underground atom bomb test was conducted at Frenchman Flat, a 123-square-mile dry lakebed located at the Nevada Test Site. It was witnessed by members of Congress and military officers. The explosion created a hole 800 feet in diameter and 100 feet deep. Since WWII, five U.S. nuclear weapons tests had been conducted at distant islands in the Pacific Ocean. To reduce extensive logistic effort, time and cost, testing was begun within the U.S. Although NTS originally was selected by criteria for atmospheric tests, it subsequently also was used for underground tests.
November 29, 1991
A dust storm caused 164 highway collisions in Coalinga, Calif., where 17 people died. Previously, land alongside this interstate highway was used as prime farmland. Unfortunately, farmers had decided not to plant their fields because of severe drought conditions, leaving long stretches of dusty soil near the highway. Winds at 40 miles mph swept dust over the highway, severely hampering visibility. Suddenly, a chain reaction of collisions developed over a mile-long stretch of the San Joaquin Valley highway.
November 29, 1947
Robert Swanson, American chemist and biotechnology industry pioneer, was born. With his Genentech co-founder, Herbert Boyer, he developed techniques that opened the possibility of transferring genes from one organism to another. Genentech created the first drug produced by genetic engineering, a human-type insulin. It was the first biotechnology company to sell human growth hormones.
November 29, 1915
American inventor Eugene Polley was born. He invented the wireless television remote control unit. This invention dramatically changed our TV watching world — forever relieving children of the responsibility to get up to change the channel for their parents.
November 29, 1813
French chemist Nicolas Clément Bernard Courtois announced the discovery of iodine at the French Institute. He had observed violet crystals with a metallic luster that condensed from vapor rising from mother liquor of seaweed ash being leeched in sulfuric acid at his family’s saltpeter business. Unfortunately, he lacked the resources to fully research it. For this he turned to C.B. Desormes and Nicolas Clément. They suspected the new substance was very similar to chlorine, but confirmation of its nature as an element was later made independently by Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac (who named it iode) and Sir Humphry Davy.
November 29, 1803
Austrian physicist Christian Doppler was born. He first described how the observed frequency of light and sound waves is affected by the relative motion of the source and the detector, known as the Doppler Effect. To test his hypothesis, Doppler used two sets of trumpeters. One set was stationary at a train station and one set moving on an open train car, all holding the same note. As the train passed the station, it was obvious that the frequency of notes from the two groups didn’t match. Sound waves would have a higher frequency if the source was moving toward the observer and lower frequency if the source was moving away from the observer. Edwin Hubble used the Doppler effect of light from distant stars to determine that the universe is expanding.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
