Timeline of explosives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This timeline lists the development of explosives and related events.
Timeline
| Year(s) | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1st millennium | Gunpowder, the first explosive, is developed. | [1][2] |
| 1040–1044 | The book Wujing Zongyao contains three formulas for gunpowder, the first such reference. | |
| 1267 | Roger Bacon's Opus Majus contains the first European reference to gunpowder. | [3] |
| 1659 | Ammonium nitrate is first synthesized by Johann Rudolf Glauber; it was not used as an explosive until World War I. | [4] |
| 1745 | William Watson shows that an electric spark can ignite gunpowder, demonstrating the first detonator. | [5] |
| 1845 | Nitrocellulose is invented by Christian Schoenbein. | [6] |
| 1846 | Nitroglycerin is invented by Ascanio Sobrero. It is the first practical explosive stronger than gunpowder. | [7][8] |
| 1863 | TNT is invented by Julius Wilbrand, but used only as a yellow dye. | [9] |
| Sep 3, 1864 | A nitroglycerin explosion at Immanuel Nobel's factory kills Alfred Nobel's youngest brother Emil Oskar Nobel and five other factory workers. | [8][10] |
| Nov 28, 1864 | Alfred Nobel establishes his first company, Nitroglycerin Aktiebolaget, the first commercial manufacturer of nitroglycerin. | [11] |
| 1865 | Alfred Nobel develops a detonator using mercury fulminate in a copper capsule to detonate nitroglycerin. | [8] |
| 1866 | Dynamite is invented by Alfred Nobel by mixing nitroglycerin with silica. It is the first safely manageable explosive stronger than gunpowder. | [citation needed] |
| 1867 | The use of ammonium nitrate in explosives is patented in Sweden. | [12] |
| 1875 | Gelignite, the first plastic explosive, is invented by Alfred Nobel. | [13][12] |
| 1884 | Paul Marie Eugène Vieille creates Poudre B, the first practical smokeless powder. | [6] |
| 1891 | The explosive properties of TNT are discovered by Carl Häussermann. | [9] |
| 1894 | PETN is patented by the Rheinisch-Westfälische Sprengstoff A.G. | [14] |
| 1898 | RDX is invented by Georg Friedrich Henning, but not used until World War II. | [15] |
| 1906 | Dunnite is invented by US Army Major Beverly W. Dunn. | |
| 1908 | The first detonating cord, a lead tube filled with TNT, is patented in France. | [16] |
| Dec 6, 1917 | Halifax Explosion: A cargo of TNT, picric acid, benzol, and guncotton aboard a ship explodes after a collision, killing at least 1,782 people. It was the largest artificial explosion at the time. | [17] |
| Apr 16, 1947 | Texas City disaster: 2,100 metric tons of ammonium nitrate aboard a docked ship explode, ultimately killing at least 581 people, the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history. | [18] |
| 1952 | Semtex, a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN, is invented by Stanislav Brebera. | [19] |
| 1955 | ANFO is developed, consisting of 94% ammonium nitrate. | [6] |
| 1956 | C-4 is developed as part of the Composition C family of plastic explosives; it contains 91% RDX. | |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Beirut explosion: A large amount of ammonium nitrate explodes, causing at least 218 deaths. | [20] |