Thomas Midgley, Jr. (May 18, 1889 – November 2, 1944), was an American mechanical engineer turned chemist. He developed both the tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) additive to gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and held over a hundred patents. While lauded at the time for his discoveries, today his legacy is seen as far more mixed considering the serious negative environmental impacts of these innovations. One historian remarked that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth history." [1]
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
From the Wikipedia
3 comments:
Dear Anonymous,
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The management.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZAnnvSOEmw
ReplyDeleteGotta love Q.I. :)
"Due to its extreme toxicity, many early TEL researchers, including Midgley, became lead poisoned, and dozens died.[9]" -- Wikipedia
ReplyDeleteYou would think that would have been a clue.
But apparently not to Migley et al.
The thing that is most striking about "geniuses" like Migley is that they are such idiots.
"The thing that is most striking about "geniuses" like Migley is that they are such idiots."
ReplyDeleteEasy to say 90 years later through the lens of history...
My guess is people from this era would consider many from previous eras to be "idiots" ... and possibly vice-versa.