Shortly after midnight on March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef just off the coast of Alaska, dumping more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine environment.
In 1971, meteorologist Tetsuya Fujita created the Fujita Scale, which allowed scientists to categorize tornadoes, aiding in predictive weather patterns. Fujita revolutionized the understanding of thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and typhoons.