Tag: asbestosfibers

Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

My Space Shuttle Challenger Thesis: Involvement, potentially, of Asbestos.

Each year I post once in January to remember the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, including the potential involvement of asbestos. For this year, my material is at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10167 and at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10618. The second citation includes a wall poster of the Challenger by IBM prior to the ill-fated flight with the statement “Defect Prevention … It…
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Pliny the Elder, Marco Polo, and the Recipe for Stone Soup: Old Even For History

I am in 7th Heaven, or maybe a kid in a candy shop. I have found in one book entries for 1,594 asbestos-related documents published prior to 1930. In the below New York Library reference book published in 1929, number 788 of the 1,594 documents discusses the work on asbestos by Pliny the Elder, and…
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August 2, 2025: Asbestos Projects of Interest

As I consider how to structure my History PhD student projects, I want to ensure that I stay focused on asbestos related issues as much as possible. As such, I will periodically publish those projects that keep my feet to the ground and direct me to my ultimate goal; that is, locate and disseminate asbestos…
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My Weekly Blog is a Summary of Prior Blogs Plus my CU – Boulder Biography

To my friends. As I am up to 220 or so blogs, and my historical blogs get a fair amount of comments and discussion, below is my table of blogs with the blog number, title, date, and URL links. If you are researching specific issues or just trying to get a leg up on history…
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1978: Asbestos Mining in the Vermont Belvidere Mountain Area

We hear about asbestos imported to the United States, primarily from Canada and South Africa, but with some coming from places like Australia. What we don’t often discuss is commercial asbestos mining companies selling asbestos from United States based mines. So, today we will discuss the 1978 book titled Petrology, Structure, and Genesis of the…
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International Presentations: Expanding Knowledge

I presented on asbestos related issues at the EGU25 conference on April 30, 2025. The conference was held in Vienna plus over the Internet with 20,984 researchers focusing on scientific discoveries and discussions. Our April 30th session was packaged with presenters discussing harmful minerals such as asbestos and erionite. I have no idea as to…
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Asbestos Presentation for Beginners

This coming Tuesday, I am presenting asbestos for beginners at the Western Mining Museum here in Colorado Springs. My draft PowerPoint is at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Presentation-WMM.pdf for those who are looking for basic history, both pre-industrial revolution or during the industrialization of the modern world. Yes, I know that the presentation is on its right side —…
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Pre-Industrial Revolution of Asbestos

For a presentation that I have coming up, I decided to undertake a deep dig into the use of asbestos prior to the industrial revolution. Many journal articles contain partial lists, but I decided to be more comprehensive. My list is as follows: •Many different names including asbestus, asbestinon, and amiantus •Stone Age – Used…
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1840: A Literature Reference to “Asbestos Young Ladies” Showing that Asbestos was well known by that Date. Keeping Ladies’ Reputations Secure

Typically, when someone asks about the year in which asbestos became useful, the answer given is “the late 1800s.” That answer is somewhat accurate, but I have found a number of historical asbestos related documents to believe that asbestos was widely known in society much earlier. I have already blogged on such early use as…
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My Weekly Blog is a Summary of Prior Blogs

Every few weeks, I provide a summary of the prior 200 plus blogs including the the topic, date, and cite. My hope is that such a summary is useful to my readers as they get involved in historical asbestos research. Also, let me know if you want a particular asbestos history topic covered. Blog Title…
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