science

List of incidents involving ricin

List of incidents involving ricin is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of incidents involving ricin rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of incidents involving the poison ricin. The incidents are predominantly attempts to use the poison for attacks, rather than accidents and non-criminal events. 1970s September 1978, London, UK, assassination of Georgi Markov On September 7, 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was jabbed in the leg in public on Waterloo Bridge, London by a man using a weapon built into an umbrella which fired a sma…

Key takeaways

List of incidents involving ricin belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of incidents involving ricin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of incidents involving ricin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of incidents involving the poison ricin. The incidents are predominantly attempts to use the poison for attacks, rather than accidents and non-criminal events.

1970s

September 1978, London, UK, assassination of Georgi Markov On September 7, 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was jabbed in the leg in public on Waterloo Bridge, London by a man using a weapon built into an umbrella which fired a small pellet carrying ricin into Markov's leg. Markov died four days later.

1980s

August 1981, Vienna, Virginia, US, assassination attempt on Boris Korczak On August 14, 1981, CIA agent Boris Korczak, who had infiltrated the KGB but had been exposed, was shot like Georgi Markov with some sort of weapon that fired a minuscule pellet containing a potentially lethal dose of ricin into his kidney while he was shopping at Giant Food Store in Vienna, Virginia. Korczak and the CIA are convinced that this assassination attempt was the work of the KGB, as he had penetrated it deeply and harmed it significantly. Korczak survived, which he attributes to being shot in the kidney, causing his body to expel the projectile as though it were a kidney stone before it could kill him.

1990s

December 1995, Onia, Arkansas, US In April 1993, Thomas Lavy was caught while trying to smuggle 130 grams of ricin from Alaska into Canada. Lavy stated that he purchased the ricin to poison coyotes on his farm in Arkansas and keep them away from his chickens. Lavy was stopped at the Beaver Creek border crossing by Canadian custom agents who found, along with the 130 grams of ricin, $89,000, a knife, four guns, and 20,000 rounds of ammunition.

January 1997, Janesville, Wisconsin, US Authorities discovered various toxic substances in the house of Thomas Leahy in Janesville, Wisconsin. They discovered the substances after they had been called to Leahy's home after he had shot his son in the face, following a night of drinking. Among the chemicals discovered were 0.67 grams of ricin and nicotine mixed with a solvent that allowed it to penetrate the skin and have lethal effects. Authorities also found books relating to the production of chemical and biological agents. Chemicals were also found in a storage shed that Leahy kept in Harvard, Illinois. He reportedly told his sister that he was going to use the poison to coat razor blades and mail them to his enemies in hopes that they would cut themselves and be exposed. Leahy pleaded guilty to possession of the ricin and was sentenced to eight years for the shooting and six-and-one-half years for possessing dangerous materials.

April 1997, James Dalton Bell The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigators searched the home of James Dalton Bell, a 39-year-old electronics engineer, and discovered a cache of chemicals, which included sodium cyanide (500 grams), diisopropyl fluorophosphate, and a range of corrosive acids. Subsequent analysis of computer files confiscated from the residence revealed that Bell engaged in e-mail communications with a friend, Robert East, a 46-year-old merchant marine radio operator, that expressed a desire to obtain castor beans to see if they could extract ricin. Bell had already acquired the home addresses of nearly 100 federal employees from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), IRS, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and computer files from voter registration. Bell was in the process of producing and acquiring chemical and biological agents.

March 1998, Michigan, US Three members of a splinter group of the North American Militia in Michigan were arrested on weapons and conspiracy charges. The April 1998 indictment was the result of an investigation involving an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agent who infiltrated the group in March 1997. When federal law enforcement raided the homes of these men, they discovered an arsenal of weapons and a videotape. Produced in a cooking-show format, the tape gave instructions on how to manufacture bombs and other assorted militia-type weaponry, including a feature segment on how to extract ricin from castor beans. During the court proceedings, prosecutors drew attention to the ricin segment, stating that the men were "collecting information on the manufacture and use of ricin." However, other than the videotape, no materials associated with ricin production were found in any of the raids.

November 1999, Tampa, Florida, US Press reports indicated that FBI agents had apprehended a man in Tampa, Florida, for threatening to kill court officials and "wage biological warfare" in Jefferson County, Colorado. James Kenneth Gluck, 53, a former Colorado resident, sent a 10-page letter to Jefferson County judges threatening to kill them with a biological agent. He specifically identified one judge by name. FBI agents arrested Gluck on 5 November 1999 as he left a public library near his home in Tampa. Police, fire, and hazardous materials (HazMat) crews responded to the scene along with the FBI and blocked off Gluck's street. Upon searching his residence the next day, agents discovered that Gluck had the necessary ingredients to make ricin, though no refined ricin was actually found. They also found test tubes and beakers, as well as a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook and books on biological toxicology, in a makeshift laboratory in his home.

2000s

August 2001, Russia and Chechnya The Russian Federal Security Service told the Itar-Tass news service it had intercepted a recorded conversation between two Chechen field commanders in which they discussed using homemade poisons against Russian troops. According to Itar-Tass, Chechen Brigadier General Rizvan Chitigov asked Chechen field commander Hizir Alhazurov, who is now living in the United Arab Emirates, for instructions on the "homemade production of poison" for use against Russian soldiers. Russian authorities reportedly raided Chitigov's home and seized materials, including instructions on how to use toxic agents to contaminate consumer goods, a small chemical laboratory, three homemade explosives, two land mines, and 30 grenades. The confiscated papers reportedly also contained instructions on how to produce ricin from castor beans.

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of incidents involving ricin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of incidents involving ricin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of incidents involving ricin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of incidents involving ricin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of incidents involving ricin

In research: List of incidents involving ricin appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of incidents involving ricin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of incidents involving ricin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Death-related lists, Deaths by poisoning, Health-related lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of incidents involving ricin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of incidents involving ricin in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of incidents involving ricin in simple terms?

This is a list of incidents involving the poison ricin. The incidents are predominantly attempts to use the poison for attacks, rather than accidents and non-criminal events. 1970s September 1978, London, UK, assassination of Georgi Markov On September 7, 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was…

Why does List of incidents involving ricin matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of incidents involving ricin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of incidents involving ricin.