Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards

In 1964, research chemist Leslie Bretherick read of a violent explosion in a laboratory, and knew that the same journal had reported a similar incident with the same chemicals 16 years earlier.

In 1971 his employers (BP) allowed him to do this in half his work time[2] and a book was published in 1975 entitled Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards.

[3] The work involved creating what was effectively a database on paper of substances and literature references, arranged by empirical formula, and converting this into a book.

[5] A revised second edition followed in 1979, with a reviewer stating “that “Bretherick” is an essential first reference”[6] As well as corrections and additional reactions, this contained a new section dealing with groups of compounds and some other matters.

A version of the 4th edition was also made available on floppy disks in the form of a database, allowing searches for hazard by class or topic and also partial name.