"[T]he first cooling tower shell [to be] analyzed by means of a shell bending theory [was in 1967]. ...Because of the complex geometry of the cooling towers and also the classical methods of analysis of shell structures, the most preferred method of the modeling and analysis of NDCT [natural draft cooling towers] is [the] (FEM)."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thin-shell_structure