Writing an article about the hazards of turbulence is a little bit ironic for me, because it feels like since I have started flying as a professional pilot most of the communication I have with passengers is dissuading their fear of turbulence. The reality is that most day-to-day turbulence is not a threat to flight safety. As far as high-profile accidents caused solely by turbulence, you would have to look all the way back to 1966, BOAC Flight 911. After an encounter with severe turbulence, the vertical stabilizer separated from the fuselage and the resulting loss of control and flat spin resulted in a total hull loss.
A proverbial spoonful of sugar to help the above medicine go down is watching wing stress tests conducted during aircraft certification. Not only do the wings go substantially past their required structural limit but watching the videos really hammers home how over-engineered modern aircraft are. See how I cannot even mention a turbulence threat without a comforting qualifier? It is just ingrained in me.
