Word: fieser
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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After trying out many combinations of elements, Fieser hit on a combination of naphthanate and palmatate, which was seven times as effective as thermite. He shortened the name to napalm so that it could be easily pronounced...
...didn't like the idea of poison gases," Fieser says, "but I swallowed my pride and took the assignment." However, during a delay in the work while new safety hoods were being installed in the Harvard labs to protect the scientists from the gases, Fieser got interested in incendiaries...
...Fieser talked to his superiors about incendiaries, and they agreed to take him off of poison gases. He immediately went to work, experimenting with various jelled fuels...
...next few years were spent testing napalm and developing new uses for it. Fieser performed test burnings and explosions in the Harvard labs and occasionally outside of Soldier's Field, though the invention remained a closely guarded secret...
...military started using napalm during the middle of 1942, and by the end of the war was using 75 million pounds a year. Meanwhile, Fieser kept experimenting. Harvard was still paying his salary, although he was working exclusively for the government. His work was still top secret, and he was spending a lot of time traveling to army bases...