Thomas Midgely, Jr was a complete shite.
Trained as an engineer, his discovered that tetraethyl lead would, when added to gasoline, reduce 'engine knock'. Thanks to him and the Ethyl Corporation lying about the health effects of TEL (loss of coordination, hallucinations, insomnia, kidney failure, hearing loss, cancer), you now have about 600 times as much lead in your body as would have had in 1920, the year before the compound was introduced.
As if that weren't enough, Midgely is also the inventor of chlorofluorocarbons, which found their way into everything from aerosol sprays to household refrigerators to automobile air conditioners. Given the damage this class of chemical is still doing to the ozone, it has been claimed with some justification that CFCs might just be the worst invention of the 20th century.
On a more positive note, Midgely became crippled with polio later in life. He designed an elaborate pulley system to raise and turn him in bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the cables of the machine and was strangled. He was 55, so he snuffed it before he could do any more damage.
Boru
Trained as an engineer, his discovered that tetraethyl lead would, when added to gasoline, reduce 'engine knock'. Thanks to him and the Ethyl Corporation lying about the health effects of TEL (loss of coordination, hallucinations, insomnia, kidney failure, hearing loss, cancer), you now have about 600 times as much lead in your body as would have had in 1920, the year before the compound was introduced.
As if that weren't enough, Midgely is also the inventor of chlorofluorocarbons, which found their way into everything from aerosol sprays to household refrigerators to automobile air conditioners. Given the damage this class of chemical is still doing to the ozone, it has been claimed with some justification that CFCs might just be the worst invention of the 20th century.
On a more positive note, Midgely became crippled with polio later in life. He designed an elaborate pulley system to raise and turn him in bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the cables of the machine and was strangled. He was 55, so he snuffed it before he could do any more damage.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
