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.
September 25, 2007
Germany began building its first magnetic levitation rail service. Magnetic levitation rail works using a large number of magnets for lift and propulsion. It has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems.
September 25, 2004
West Africa, including Chad, Mali, Gambia, Niger and Mauritania, suffered a major plague of locusts. The swarms were so high, that pesticide control was unable to keep up. West Africa has suffered from prolonged droughts in recent years. Locust infestations have resulted in famine on a massive scale.
September 25, 1983
A Soviet military officer averted a potential worldwide nuclear war. He declared a false alarm after a U.S. attack was detected by a Soviet early warning system. It was later discovered the alarms had been set off when a satellite warning system mistakenly interpreted sunlight reflections off clouds as the presence of enemy missiles.
September 25, 1978
A commercial passenger jet collided in mid-air with a small Cessna plane in San Diego, where 153 people died. The planes both nose-dived straight into densely populated neighborhoods. Prior to impact, conflict-alert warning systems began to flash at the air-traffic control center. However, because the alert system went off so frequently with false alarms, it was ignored.
September 25, 1974
Frank Rowland and Mario Molina, American physical chemists at the University of California Irvine, first reported that Freon gases released from aerosol spray cans were destroying our earth’s protective ozone layer. Their model for Freon breakdown and ozone destruction was based on a similar reaction between nitrous oxide and ozone in the lower atmosphere. Freons in the stratosphere first absorb ultraviolet light, liberating chlorine atoms. The liberated chlorine atoms in turn attack ozone, breaking it down into oxygen. The bad news is that each chlorine atom can remove thousands of ozone molecules from the stratosphere via a chain reaction.
September 25, 1946
Seventy-five ships were quarantined until tests for radioactive contamination were completed. They were suspected to have high radioactivity due to a nuclear atom bomb testing at Bikini Atoll.
September 25, 1911
The French Battleship, Liberté’ exploded in Toulon, France, where 100 sailors died. After a spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose gel erupted in a forward magazine, a chain-reaction detonation of the entire ship’s magazines followed.
September 25, 1832
William Jenney, American civil engineer and architect, was born. He was one of the first to use a metal skeleton in large commercial buildings for support, which became the standard for American skyscraper design.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
