In January 1951 a geiger counter at Kodak's headquarters in New York registered readings 25 times higher than normal during a snowstorm. It turned out that on the 27th of January the first nuclear test occurred at the Nevada Proving Grounds location.
In 1952, Kodak notified the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) about its findings. The commission dismissed Kodak's concerns, even allowing Kodak to give a press release about radioactive snow. Kodak was told that the radiation in the snow wasn't harmful to humans or animals, which it relayed in the press release.
Kodak would eventually go on to threaten to sue the United States government for the nuclear tests due to the damage it was causing to their X-ray film. The U.S. government and Kodak eventually worked out a deal where the AEC would notify Kodak of future tests so precautions could be made to protect the film. In return, Kodak was to keep silent about the nuclear testing.
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Monday May 13 2019, @03:28PM (3 children)
I thought the inadvertent exposure of film was called "fogging", not "flogging".
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday May 13 2019, @03:54PM (2 children)
I'm pretty sure you're right. I'd chalk it up to Freudian Slip. The problem with spell-check...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 13 2019, @05:13PM (1 child)
I thought it was fogging too, and tried searching...but it was polluted with many S&M flogging links.
Instead I went to the Pop Science article linked from TFA and found:
> Black exposed spots on the film, or "fogging," had rendered it unusable.
TFA author needs a flogging!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 13 2019, @05:27PM
Whoops, same AC. The article is from 2016, Popular Mechanics:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a21382/how-kodak-accidentally-discovered-radioactive-fallout/ [popularmechanics.com]