AIR POLLUTION EVENTS IN HISTORY
1940s-1950s

1947: Los Angeles Air Pollution Control District formed; first air pollution control bureau in the nation.

1948: Air pollution inversion episode in Donora, Pennsylvania, kills 20 people and makes 40 percent of the town’s 14,000 inhabitants ill.

1948: 600 deaths in London due to smog.

1949: Public Health Service sponsors the first national conference on air pollution.

1950s: Dr. Haagen-Smit identifies the photochemical nature of smog.

1952: Sulfur-laden smog covers London and is responsible for 4,000 deaths over a two-week period.

1953: New York smog incident kills between 170 and 260 in November.

1955: Congress passes Air Pollution Research Act.