Faultory

Timeline · 1628 to 2025 · 83 dated case files

Every case file, in the order it happened.

From Vasa in 1628 to Iberian blackout in 2025. Read across the years to see the same failures and the same habits of discovery return.

Photograph: Alphonse Bertillon, pioneer of police identification, photographed in profile and full face by his own method. Wellcome Collection · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons.

Case files per decade of the event or discovery, one mark per file, coloured by field. The years before 1840 share the first column.

Before 1800 2 case files

  1. 1628CH 35 · HistoryThe ship that heeled too farVasa, 1628: a warship that capsized in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage
  2. 1747CH 45 · ScienceTwelve sailors and six remediesHMS Salisbury, 1747: which scurvy remedy did the trial support, and why did the Navy take decades to act?

The 1800s 8 case files

  1. 1815CH 36 · HistoryThe cold summer after TamboraTambora, 1815-1816: how far can one eruption explain one cold summer?
  2. 1845CH 37 · HistoryLead, scurvy and a long winterFranklin expedition, 1845–48: what the evidence says about why it failed
  3. 1846CH 09 · ScienceThe Missing PullAn orbit is wrong. Is the law wrong—or the inventory?
  4. 1846CH 46 · ScienceTwo wards and one differenceVienna General Hospital, 1846-1847: why two maternity divisions had such different death rates
  5. 1854CH 20 · HistoryThe exception beside the pumpSoho, 1854: test the pattern against the people it misses
  6. 1859CH 82 · ScienceThe flare nobody measuredSolar storm, 1859: how large was the flare that preceded it?
  7. 1887CH 47 · ScienceA fringe that barely movedCleveland, 1887: why an interferometer test of Earth's motion through the ether found almost nothing
  8. 1889CH 38 · HistoryThe dam that could not spillJohnstown Flood, 1889: why the South Fork Dam failed, and what the record can say about responsibility

1900 to 1945 16 case files

  1. 1900CH 39 · HistoryA warning that pointed elsewhereGalveston, 1900: forecasting limits, Weather Bureau warnings and an island city without a seawall
  2. 1901CH 71 · HistoryGears inside the rustAntikythera wreck, 1901: how did X-ray CT turn corroded fragments into an astronomical calculator?
  3. 1907CH 25 · EngineeringA dead load nobody recheckedQuebec Bridge, 1907: how an estimated weight became a structural failure
  4. 1912CH 40 · HistoryIce ahead, speed unchangedRMS Titanic, 1912: did the ice warnings, speed and lifeboat provision shape the outcome?
  5. 1912CH 48 · ScienceThe skull assembled to deceivePiltdown, Sussex, 1912-1953: how a celebrated fossil was shown to be a composite forgery
  6. 1914CH 49 · ScienceA disease that spared the staffSouthern United States, from 1914: was pellagra an infection, a dietary deficiency, or something the record cannot yet separate?
  7. 1915CH 22 · HistoryWhen the destination stops matteringEndurance, 1915–1916: revise the mission as the evidence changes
  8. 1917CH 41 · HistoryWrong side of the NarrowsHalifax Harbour, 1917: a munitions ship, a collision and the question of blame
  9. 1918CH 42 · HistoryThe parade and the closuresUS cities, 1918: did the timing of closures and gatherings change how the epidemic hit?
  10. 1919CH 50 · ScienceStarlight bent by the SunSobral and Príncipe, 1919: did the eclipse photographs settle a test of general relativity?
  11. 1919CH 78 · HistoryThree suspects for a burst tankBoston, 1919: why did a storage tank burst and send a deadly wave through the North End?
  12. 1928CH 15 · ScienceThe Clear ZoneAn antibacterial observation is not yet a usable medicine.
  13. 1930CH 43 · HistoryDrought meets the ploughSouthern Great Plains, 1930s: did drought alone create the dust storms?
  14. 1940CH 01 · EngineeringThe bridge that fed its own motionTacoma Narrows, 1940: follow the energy, not just the wind
  15. 1940CH 21 · HistoryA guess that rules things outBletchley Park: the machinery behind a testable crib
  16. 1943CH 26 · EngineeringHulls that broke in still waterSchenectady and the Liberty fleet, 1943: why welded hulls split

1946 to 1999 31 case files

  1. 1950CH 51 · ScienceThe lead that dated the EarthCaltech, 1950s: what did lead from an iron meteorite date, and why did ordinary lead keep interfering with the measurement?
  2. 1952CH 19 · HistoryThe city under a lidLondon, 1952: emissions meet an atmospheric trap
  3. 1954CH 27 · EngineeringLoads repeated, cracks unseende Havilland Comet losses, 1954: pressurized-cabin fatigue and the tank tests
  4. 1959CH 70 · HistoryThe tent under the shoulderDyatlov Pass deaths, 1959: could a small slab avalanche explain the damaged tent and the injuries?
  5. 1961CH 84 · ScienceThe missing pregnancy dataDrug safety, 1961: could a sedative be treated as safe without data on pregnancy?
  6. 1962CH 44 · HistoryWhat the film could showCuban Missile Crisis, October 1962: what the U-2 photographs could establish, and what they could not
  7. 1963CH 13 · ScienceThe Ocean-Floor TapeSymmetric magnetic stripes test an idea about moving continents.
  8. 1964CH 10 · ScienceThe Noise That Filled the SkyAn antenna’s unwanted signal becomes a cosmological clue.
  9. 1967CH 11 · ScienceThe Clock in the ScruffA recurring mark on a chart challenges the interference explanation.
  10. 1967CH 28 · EngineeringOne eyebar, no second pathSilver Bridge, 1967: how did a flaw in one eyebar bring down the span?
  11. 1969CH 58 · EngineeringA computer that kept restartingApollo 11 landing, 1969: why did the guidance computer keep restarting, and why was it safe to land?
  12. 1970CH 06 · EngineeringThe failure that began before launchApollo 13, 1970: reconstruct a component’s hidden history
  13. 1975CH 24 · HistoryA photograph without filmKodak, 1975: distinguish a working principle from a finished product
  14. 1977CH 81 · ScienceThe signal that might have been a cloudWow! signal, 1977: what can one unrepeated 72-second detection tell us?
  15. 1978CH 69 · EngineeringThe wind that came from the cornerCiticorp Center, New York, 1978: how did the engineer find that the tower could fall in a storm, and what made the risk worse?
  16. 1979CH 29 · EngineeringThe light that said lessThree Mile Island, 1979: what the control room could not see
  17. 1980CH 14 · ScienceThe Boundary and the CraterA chemical anomaly needs a source, a date, and a mechanism.
  18. 1981CH 05 · EngineeringThe detail that carried two walkwaysKansas City, 1981: trace where the weight goes
  19. 1982CH 52 · ScienceThe bacterium ulcers hidRoyal Perth Hospital, 1982-1985: could a stomach bacterium cause ulcers rather than merely accompany them?
  20. 1985CH 12 · ScienceThe Antarctic Spring GapA long-running measurement changes when nobody expects it to.
  21. 1985CH 30 · EngineeringSoftware that replaced the interlocksTherac-25, 1985–87: when software took over safety checks, what failed?
  22. 1986CH 31 · EngineeringCold seals and the launch callChallenger, 1986: erosion, cold joints and the decision to launch
  23. 1986CH 60 · EngineeringA test changed on the spotSoviet Union, 26 April 1986: why did the reactor become unstable during a test?
  24. 1986CH 72 · HistoryA gas cloud from still waterCameroon, 1986: where did the carbon dioxide come from, and what released it?
  25. 1989CH 53 · ScienceHeat without the expected signatureUniversity of Utah, 1989: can excess heat from palladium electrolysis be reproduced, and what would a nuclear source require?
  26. 1990CH 04 · EngineeringA perfect result from a wrong rulerHubble, 1990: precision without independent accuracy
  27. 1991CH 32 · EngineeringA clock that drifted with uptimeDhahran, 1991: how a clock error grew the longer the system ran
  28. 1996CH 03 · EngineeringTwo computers, one assumptionAriane 501, 1996: when backup is not independence
  29. 1997CH 33 · EngineeringA reset from a waiting taskMars Pathfinder, 1997: how a shared lock became a spacecraft reset
  30. 1999CH 02 · EngineeringThe number with the missing meaningMars Climate Orbiter, 1999: an interface failure across Earth
  31. 1999CH 73 · HistoryThe computer said the cash was missingPost Office Horizon, 1999 onward: why was the computer believed when it reported missing money?

2000 to 2019 15 case files

  1. 2000CH 34 · EngineeringFootsteps that tuned a bridgeLondon Millennium Bridge, 2000: why a crowd made a footbridge sway
  2. 2003CH 07 · EngineeringThe grid that lost its warning signsNortheast blackout, 2003: local faults, regional consequences
  3. 2003CH 08 · EngineeringWhen previous survival becomes false reassuranceColumbia, 2003: distinguish missing evidence from evidence of safety
  4. 2008CH 76 · HistoryReturns that were too smoothBernard Madoff's firm, 1992–2008: what did the numbers show that regulators missed?
  5. 2009CH 63 · EngineeringThe speed readings that could not be trustedAir France 447, 2009: how did a brief loss of airspeed data turn into a stall from cruise altitude?
  6. 2010CH 17 · HistoryTrading faster, buying lessMay 6, 2010: volume is not market depth
  7. 2010CH 62 · EngineeringThe pressure test read as a sealGulf of Mexico, 20 April 2010: why did the crew believe the well was sealed?
  8. 2011CH 54 · ScienceEarly neutrinos and a faulty connectorCERN to Gran Sasso, 2011: what caused an apparent speed above light, and how the measurement chain was checked
  9. 2011CH 61 · EngineeringA seawall built to an older estimateJapan, 11 March 2011: why did the tsunami defeat the plant's cooling?
  10. 2012CH 18 · EngineeringThe eighth serverKnight Capital, 2012: a release that was not everywhere
  11. 2013CH 75 · HistoryWhich test was actually run?Theranos, 2013–2018: what separates a demonstrated lab test from a claimed one?
  12. 2014CH 77 · HistorySeven handshakes with a satelliteMalaysia Airlines flight MH370, 2014: where did the satellite data place the aircraft?
  13. 2014CH 83 · ScienceA twist in the oldest lightCosmic inflation, 2014: did a polarization signal reveal gravitational waves, or dust in our own galaxy?
  14. 2015CH 16 · ScienceThe Chirp in Two PlacesA fleeting signal must survive an extraordinary noise investigation.
  15. 2018CH 64 · EngineeringOne vane, and a system pilots had not been told aboutLion Air 610 (2018) and Ethiopian 302 (2019): how could one angle-of-attack sensor command a new airliner nose-down again and again?

The 2020s 11 case files

  1. 2021CH 79 · HistoryWhy so many plants stopped at onceThe Texas grid, 2021: which failures pushed the system to the edge of collapse?
  2. 2023CH 66 · EngineeringReadings from a hull under strainTitan submersible, 2023: what did the hull’s own monitoring data show before the final dive?
  3. 2023CH 67 · EngineeringA chip 24 billion kilometers awayVoyager 1, November 2023 to April 2024: how did engineers diagnose a failed memory chip from interstellar distance, and work around it?
  4. 2023CH 74 · HistorySafe bonds and a two-day runSilicon Valley Bank, 2023: how did a bank with mostly safe securities fail in two days?
  5. 2023CH 80 · ScienceThe flake that hung halfwayLK-99 claim, 2023: did a copper-doped lead compound superconduct at room temperature?
  6. 2024CH 55 · EngineeringA content file that was not codeCrowdStrike Falcon content update, 2024: how could one update crash Windows machines when the sensor code had not changed?
  7. 2024CH 56 · EngineeringThe half-second loginxz Utils backdoor, 2024: what small anomaly exposed malicious code hidden in release files?
  8. 2024CH 65 · EngineeringA plug closed without its boltsAlaska Airlines 1282, 2024: how did a 737 MAX 9 leave the factory without the bolts that held a door plug in place?
  9. 2024CH 68 · EngineeringA landing on featureless sandIngenuity Mars helicopter, 18 January 2024: what brought down the first aircraft on another world?
  10. 2025CH 57 · EngineeringA DNS record with no addressesAWS us-east-1 outage, 2025: how did an automated DNS system leave a core service with an empty address?
  11. 2025CH 59 · EngineeringVoltage the grid could not holdSpain and Portugal, 28 April 2025: what caused the grid to collapse?

Not tied to one date

  1. —CH 23The clock that is right in the wrong placeGPS: a design investigation, not a historical outage

Or browse by topicSoftware failures 15Aviation and spaceflight 16Bridges, buildings and structures 12Energy and power grids 7Medicine and public health 11Mysteries and open questions 7Extraordinary claims and replication 9Markets, money and fraud 6Weather, climate and the Earth 11Ships and the sea 9Investigations from the 2020s 12Astronomy and physics 13