Thomas Midgley Jr. (1889-1944) was an American engineer and chemist who made important contributions to the fields of automotive and industrial engineering and the development of synthetic materials. He is, however, perhaps most famous for his work on the development of leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), both of which would later be shown to have significant negative impacts on human health and the environment.
Midgley was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1911. He went on to work for General Motors, where he was part of the team that developed the first mass-produced car with a self-starter, revolutionising the automobile industry.
In the 1920s, Midgley began working on developing an additive for gasoline that would reduce engine knock, which was a common problem at the time. He discovered that adding tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline made engines run more smoothly, and leaded gasoline soon became widely used worldwide.
Midgley also played a key role in developing CFCs, which were widely used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants. He discovered that chlorofluorocarbons were a highly effective refrigerant, and they were soon adopted as a safer alternative to earlier, more hazardous refrigerants.
Unfortunately, it was later discovered that both leaded gasoline and CFCs had serious negative impacts on human health and the environment. Leaded gasoline was found to be a major contributor to air pollution and linked to neurological damage, and it was eventually banned in most countries. CFCs were found to contribute to the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer, which led to the adoption of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which called for a phase-out of the use of CFCs.
Midgley's legacy is complicated, as he made significant contributions to the development of new technologies that improved people's lives, but his work also had unintended consequences that caused significant harm.
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References:
Much of the lead-crime hypothesis data is from Rick Nevin’s work – https://ricknevin.com/
WHO factsheet on lead poisoning – https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sh...
WHO press release about the end of leaded gasoline https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/...
UNICEF report – https://ve42.co/UNICEF
Needleman, H. (2004). Lead poisoning. Annu. Rev. Med., 55, 209-222. https://ve42.co/Needleman1 MoistMoments Website - https://moist-moments.com
