At the turn of the 20th century, cholera, typhoid fever and other waterborne diseases killed thousands of U.S. residents annually. The main culprit: drinking water.
In the 1920s, Abel Wolman, a Johns Hopkins School of Engineering graduate who was working in the Maryland Health Department, developed the modern process for chlorinating drinking water to kill harmful bacteria. Later, as a Johns Hopkins faculty member, he would oversee the planning and construction of modern municipal and national water supplies, set bacterial standards for drinking water, and advise 50 foreign countries on safe water processes.
What had been a huge source of deaths dropped to nearly nothing after the methods of Abel Wolman were introduced. Over the decades, he might have saved millions.
