Michael George Zabetakis (7 July 1924 – 21 January 2005) was a
fire safety engineering specialist. He received his PhD in chemistry from the
University of Pittsburgh in 1956. In 1965 he published data for
flammability limits,
autoignition, and
burning-rate data for more than 200
combustible gases and vapors in air and other
oxidants, as well as of empirical rules and graphs that can be used to predict similar data for thousands of other combustibles under a variety of environmental conditions. The work remains one of the most widely cited sources of flammability data. Despite its age it was still in 1999 considered the standard reference.
[Drysdale 1999:75] Zabetakis often uses
flammability diagrams to show flammable properties of fuel-air-nitrogen mixtures. Zabetakis was the first superintendent of the
National Mine Health and Safety Academy
The United States National Mine Health and Safety Academy is a federal academy responsible for training the mine safety and health inspectors and technical support personnel of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The Academy is locate ...
.
References
1924 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American engineers
Washington & Jefferson College alumni
University of Pittsburgh alumni
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