May 15, 1896: F5 (winds exceeded 260 mph) tornado struck Sherman, Texas; where 73 people died. Tornado strength is measured via Fujita Scale, named after Tetsuya Fujita. He discovered that average tornado is 150 feet wide, travels one mile moving 40 mph & tends to pick up strength the longer it lasts. Fujita found that only 30 percent of twisters reach winds above 112 miles per hour. Tornadoes that cause complete destruction on ground are designated as F5, which only occur in North America. There were 94 recorded F5 tornadoes in 20th century. 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. tornado-facts/the-tornado-scale/
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 22:10:46 +0000
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