His many other inventions -- including explosivematerials like the smokeless powder Ballistite -- were used for militaristic, mining, construction and other industrial purposes.
Many were items that were stripped out of the counter-terrorism legislation earlier in the year -- authority for roving wiretaps and taggants to trace explosivematerials.
As you're swiping your boarding pass ( or smartphone), the machine also scans it for particle-sized traces of explosivematerials and sends the all-clear or no-go in less than two seconds.
Questions abound about how a Nigerian national who was supposedly on the terrorist "watch list" was able to obtain a visa, fly to the United States and transport explosivematerials undetected.
They also work to mitigate the results of an explosion, and develop simulants to aid in the production of materials that can be used for effective training of explosive detection teams.