"Thomas Midgley, Jr. (May 18, 1889 -- November 2, 1944), was an American mechanical engineer turned chemist. He developed both the tetraethyl 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's history." -Wikipedia entry, "Thomas Midgley, Jr." en.wikipedia.org Thanks to a "Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson for the inspiration and introduction to the work of Thomas Midgley, Jr. www.amazon.com Some sources: Inventor's Hall of Fame www.invent.org Charles F Kettering's memoirs, on Midgley books.nap.edu Ozone Watch ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov
Orignal From: Thomas Midgley, Jr.
Post a Comment