Just after midnight on December 3, 1984, chemical gas began leaking from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The gas was toxic and heavier than air, and it crept along the ground and easily infiltrated the shacks and huts of the crowded shantytown surrounding the plant.
The newest and most advanced nuclear submarine of the U.S. Navy at the time, the USS Thresher, was continuing with sea trials on April 10, 1963. After commencing a scheduled dive to test depth, the Thresher reported "minor difficulties" to its escort. Shortly after that, sonar recorded the sounds of ...
In the late 1800s, when railroads were beginning to connect every corner of the United Kingdom, the National Board of Railroads commissioned a bridge over the Firth of Tay. This bridge was to have a high span so that sailing ships plying between the UK and Australia...
In February 1982, the Ocean Ranger was conducting drilling operations for ODECO off Newfoundland. The Ocean Ranger was a self-propelled oil-drilling platform that was capable of operating in 1,500 feet of ocean water and drilling to a depth of 25,000 feet. Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan ...
On the evening of 18 January 1978, nearly 5,000 spectators watched a basketball game in the three-year-old Hartford Center. It was the jewel of an urban renewal program in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, and boasted the largest single span of roof ever lifted into place as a complete unit. The roof was an engineering marvel ...
In 2008, the energy company BP received a permit to drill a subsurface oil well in the Gulf of Mexico called the Macondo well. For this project, BP chartered the 10-year-old rig Deepwater Horizon from its owner, Transocean. Halliburton was responsible for cementing work ...
Constructed during and immediately after World War II, the Baldwin Hills Reservoir was intended to provide a reserve supply of safe water for people living in the Los Angeles area in case of emergency. The dam, built between 1947 and 1951 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ...
On 27 March 1980, the offshore oil platform Alexander Kielland was, as a floating crew accommodation, supporting drilling operations by the Edda 2/C in the North Atlantic. There were 212 off-duty oil platform workers aboard that evening ...
Located about 120 miles northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, the Piper Oil Field was one of the first deepwater oil reservoirs to be exploited in the North Sea. The surprisingly productive oil field contributed significantly to the economy of the United Kingdom by ...
In the 1970s, power companies began building many new coal-fired electrical power plants in the Ohio Valley to feed the growing industry in that region. These power plants were close to coal mines, so the electricity they generated was less expensive than nuclear or hydroelectric ...
