May 18, 1980: Inert rock & volcanic gases became extremely hazardous when Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, 57 people died. Millions of trees were demolished by 24-megaton blast in 230-square-mile area. In matter of seconds, volcano went from 9,600 feet high to only 8,300 feet high. Mountain top glacier melted creating massive mudslides that wiped out homes & dammed up rivers. Falling ash clogged carburetors & thousands of motorists were stranded.

May 18, 1977: Nightclub fire in Cincinnati, Ohio where 164 people died.

May 18, 1974: India detonated its first nuclear fission weapon. It became sixth nation with nuclear warhead capability joining United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, China & France. Month later India’s rival, Pakistan, detonated its first nuclear weapon.

May 18, 1933: President Roosevelt signed “New Deal” Legislation creating Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to control floods, improve navigation, & generate electrical power. For many years, TVA has been proactive supporter of CHMM Program.

May 18, 1921: Typhus exposure shut down Ellis Island, 1,700 immigrants quarantined. After several days of fumigation & extensive cleaned up, it reopened for immigration.

May 18, 1918: TNT factory exploded in Oakdale, Pennsylvania where 200 people died.

May 18, 1914: First commercial cargo began its passage through the Panama Canal, which has become a major transportation corridor for hazardous and non-hazardous materials.

May 17, 2005: Toyota Motor Company announced plans to produce gasoline-electric hybrid powered Camry sedan. Result was quantum leap in automotive fuel efficiency & carbon footprint reduction.

May 17, 1994: Fire broke out in overcrowded Honduras prison where 103 inmates died. Fire started from two small refrigerators in prison designed to house 800 inmates that was holding 2,000 prisoners. Guards reported that they had to fire their guns in air to keep prisoners from attacking firefighters & escaping. Inmates claimed that guards were preventing prisoners from fleeing the fire.

May 17, 1976: Earthquake (6.7-magnitude) struck Uzbekistan where 10,000 people became homeless.

May 17, 1912: America’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry began when gas cylinders were installed at Pennsylvania farm. This was first installation of cylinders of “bottled gas” to be used for residential cooking & heating.

May 17, 1749: Edward Jenner, English surgeon who discovered vaccination for smallpox was born. He called his treatment method vaccination, using Latin word vacca, meaning cow, and vaccinia, meaning cowpox. Jenner also introduced the word virus.

Note: May 17 is World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which is dedicated to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. LinkedIn IHMM Discussion Group Site is a social media example of worldwide telecommunication & information now being made available to professionals that practice hazardous materials management.

May 16, 1988: Surgeon General Everett Koop declared that nicotine is as addictive as Heroin & Cocaine and that all cigarette packets should carry a public health warning.

May 16, 1960: Theodore Maiman, American scientist, used synthetic-ruby crystal to demonstrate first working laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. Laser is device that produces monochromatic (all same wavelength), coherent (all waves in phase) light. They’re used in eye surgery, dentistry, range-finding, astronomical measurement & welding. You’ll find them in scientific instruments, communications networks, weapons, music systems & supermarket scanners.

May 16, 1894: Fire in Boston destroyed baseball stadium & 170 other buildings.

May 16, 1875: Earthquake struck Venezuela & Colombia where 16,000 people died.

May 16, 1874: First recorded dam disaster in USA (Williamsburg, Massachusetts).

May 16, 1849: New York City Board of Health established hospital to deal with cholera epidemic. New York City’s first street-cleaning plan was implemented during epidemic when 5,000 people died. Public health initiatives like this & discovery of antibiotics have since decreased reach & severity of diseases like cholera in much of the world.

May 15, 1957: First British H-bomb exploded over Christmas Island in Pacific Ocean.

May 15, 1941: First British jet aircraft flew over England. Its jet engines were devised by Frank Whittle, British aviation engineer & pilot who is regarded as “father of the jet engine”. Jet age travel has dramatically changed transportation of hazardous materials.

May 15, 1940: Nylon stockings from DuPont (nylon was invented in 1935 by Wallace Carothers) went on general sale for first time in United States. Since then nylon has found thousands of other uses. DuPont marketing slogan was “Better Living Through Chemistry”!

May 15, 1859: Pierre Curie, French physical chemist was born. His studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife, Marie Curie. Their success was achieved under conditions of extreme hardship. They had barely adequate laboratory facilities & worked under stress of having to do much teaching in order to earn their livelihood. Together, they discovered radium & polonium.

May 14, 1976: Oil tanker that had hit unmarked shoal exploded off Spanish coast, 513,000 barrels burned for 16 hours.

May 14, 1973: Twentieth Century “Voyage of Discovery” began when Skylab (first U.S. space station) was launched into orbit around the earth. Wealth of information regarding hazards & benefits of space exploration has been provided by Skylab.

May 14, 1878: English-born chemist Robert Cheseborough registered Vaseline as trademark for petroleum jelly. He had noticed that oil field workers were using pasty residue that stuck to driller’s rods & clogged their pumps was being used on burns & cuts to promote healing.

May 14, 1804: Lewis & Clark’s “Corps of Discovery” left St. Louis on mission to explore Louisiana Purchase from Mississippi River to Pacific Ocean. Expedition brought back, from largely unexplored region, wealth of information regarding hazards & benefits to be found within Louisiana Purchase.

May 9, 2001: Stampede during soccer match in Ghana, 126 people died. Confrontation between stadium police & rowdy fans escalated when tear gas canisters were fired into crowd exceeding above stadium capacity of 45,000. Fans fled for the gates. However, gates were locked. People at exits were crushed to death by masses behind them trying to escape.

May 9, 1993: Landslide in Ecuador where 300 people died.

May 9, 1980: Freighter rammed into support column on Tampa Bay Bridge, 35 motorists died.

May 9, 1971: Friends of Earth return 1500 non-returnable bottles to Schweppes.

May 9, 1960: FDA approved world’s first commercially produced birth-control pill, Enovid-10, made by G.D. Searle Company of Chicago, Illinois.