A Brief History On May 17, 1983, the US government was obligated to release information due to a newspaper’s Freedom of Information Act request about the largest Mercury pollution source in history, the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, nuclear facilities first constructed during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. Digging Deeper The site of the second self-sustaining atomic pile reactor in the world, Plutonium was produced there from Uranium to make atom bombs. From 1950 to 1963, 11 million kilos of Mercury were used for isotope separation,…
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A Brief History On May 16, 1943, modified British Lancaster bombers undertook Operation Chastise, a bombing raid against dams in the industrial heartland of Germany. Remarkable for the use of “bouncing” bombs that skipped across the water to roll down the inner faces of the dams before detonation, the daring raid breached two of the targeted dams and damaged a third dam, killing about 1,600 people. The RAF lost eight of the 19 bombers used in the raid. Digging Deeper Famous for its ingenuity, the “dambusters” raid ranks high among famous bombing raids, which also include: The Doolittle Raid of…
A Brief History On May 15, 2010, Australian 16 year old Jessica Watson completed a non-stop and solo unassisted sail voyage around the world, the youngest person to achieve this feat. Digging Deeper Watson piloted a 33.6 foot sailboat on her trip of seven months that covered nearly 20,000 nautical miles. She is just one of many people that achieved great feats before turning 18 years old, some of whom include: American Marjorie Gestring became the youngest Olympic Gold Medalist in 1936 when she won the 3-meter diving event at the age of 13. Eight Olympic champions have been age…
A Brief History On May 13, 1950, the first Formula One World Championship race was held in England. That race was won by Italian driver Giuseppe Farina driving an Alfa Romeo with an average speed of 146.3 KPH. Formula One, or F1, is perhaps the premier auto racing form, using single person cars with open wheels that use wings fore and aft to provide downforce. Digging Deeper Depending on the source, F1 cars can achieve speeds up to 256 MPH, but about 35 MPH less in a race. By comparison, an Indy car racer posted a four-lap average of 234.2…
A Brief History On May 9, 1941, German submarine U-110 was forced to the surface by a British corvette and a destroyer that were escorting a convoy attacked by the sub. U-110 had been a successful attack submarine, but on this day, depth charges forced the boat to the surface. Digging Deeper Damaged and in danger of sinking, the captain ordered the sub abandoned and scuttled, but in their haste to get off the sub that was also under fire from the British, the crew failed to scuttle the sub. U-110 was not sinking, so the British kept German sailors…