ERNEST WALTON!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY June 25, 2025 ERNEST WALTON! Ernest Walton was an Irish physicist best known for being one of the first scientists to artificially split the atom. Alongside John Cockcroft, he built the first successful particle accelerator, often called the “Cockcroft-Walton generator,” in the early 1930s. In 1932, their experiment bombarded lithium with […]
108 YEARS OF PHILLIPS 66!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY June 13, 2025 108 YEARS OF PHILLIPS 66! Started by Frank and L.E. Phillips, the Phillips Petroleum Company was incorporated on June 13, 1917, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. At the time, Oklahoma was a booming center of oil production, making it a strategic location for the new venture. The company quickly expanded […]
TRIANGLE NO.1!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY June 12, 2025 TRIANGLE NO.1! The Triangle No. 1 well, drilled by O.P. Taylor, was completed on June 12, 1879, near Petrolia in Allegany County, New York. This well marked the first commercially successful oil well in the state, igniting the oil boom in the region. Taylor, often referred to as […]
FEDERAL GAS TAX!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY June 6, 2025 FEDERAL GAS TAX! The federal gas tax was first instituted on June 6, 1932, during the Great Depression to raise revenue for the federal government. At the time, the tax was set at one cent per gallon of gasoline. It was part of the Revenue Act of 1932, […]
VASELINE MAKES HISTORY!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY June 4, 2025 VASELINE MAKES HISTORY! On June 4, 1872, Robert Chesebrough was granted a patent for his now-famous “cure-all” product, Vaseline. Made from the byproduct of oil drilling, Chesebrough developed petroleum jelly and used bold marketing tactics to promote it. He would burn his skin in public demonstrations, apply Vaseline […]
GOOSE CREEK OIL FIELD!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY June 2, 2025 GOOSE CREEK OIL FIELD! The Goose Creek Oil Field began its offshore journey on June 2, 1908. Located in Galveston Bay, signs of oil were first noticed in 1903 when bubbling water, caused by natural gas, was observed. For about two and a half years following this discovery, […]
SANTA RITA NO.1!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY May 28, 2025 SANTA RITA NO.1! On May 28, 1923, the Santa Rita No. 1 well struck oil in Reagan County, Texas, forever changing the economic future of West Texas and the University of Texas System. After nearly two years of drilling through hard rock, the Texon Oil and Land Company […]
CENTRALIA MINE FIRE STILL BURNS!
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY May 27, 2025 CENTRALIA MINE FIRE STILL BURNS! On May 27, 1962, a small landfill fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, sparked something much bigger: an underground coal seam caught fire and has been burning ever since. What started as a routine cleanup turned into a relentless mine fire that’s still active more […]
JOHN D. ROCKFELLER
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY January 22, 2025 REAGAN ERA BEGINS! John D. Rockefeller was a businessman from the start, always finding something to sell, even as a child. Though he didn’t begin in the oil industry, he entered it in 1863 by investing in a refinery in Cleveland, Ohio. This move sparked a historic journey […]
T. BOONE PICKENS
TODAY IN ENERGY HISTORY May 22, 2025 T. BOONE PICKENS T. Boone Pickens Jr. was a successful oilman and philanthropist who once said he enjoyed giving away his money almost as much as he enjoyed making it. Born on May 22, 1928, in Holdenville, Oklahoma, Pickens was a true entrepreneur. He was born into the […]