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.
October 3, 1952
Britain became the world’s third nuclear power after successfully testing its first atomic bomb off the northwest coast of Australia. The 25-kiloton device was like the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Note: During World War II, 50 British scientists and engineers worked on the U.S. atomic bomb at Los Alamos, N.M.
October 3, 1942
German scientists led by Wernher von Braun successfully fired a V-2 missile at Peenemunde, an island off Germany’s Baltic coast. It traveled 118 miles. The V-2 proved extraordinarily deadly in WWII. It was a precursor to the intercontinental ballistic missiles of the postwar era.
October 3, 1941
The first aerosol can used in a commercial application was patented by U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers L.D. Goodhue and W.N. Sullivan. They were looking for a way to apply oil-free insecticides in mushroom houses. They dissolved an insecticide in a nonflammable, liquefied gas under pressure in a steel container. The insecticide was allowed to escape in a fine spray through an oil burner nozzle. During WWII such cans, dubbed “bug bombs,” were used to protect troops from malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
October 3, 1916
Frank Pantridge, Irish cardiologist, was born. He developed the life-saving portable defibrillator. Pantridge found out that death occurred within the first hour for 60% of males (up to middle-age) who died from heart attack and of these, 90% suffered ventricular fibrillation. He equipped the ambulance with a portable defibrillator, which achieved a 50% long-term patient survival rate.
October 3, 1830
George Brayton, American engineer, was born. He invented the first commercial gas internal combustion engine, whereby a pressurized air-fuel mixture from a reservoir was ignited upon entering a water-cooled cylinder. Its principle of continuous ignition later became the basis for the turbine engine.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
