Inventions, Good and Bad

"We are the only species of living creatures that even conceives of exerting any control over the environment thrust upon it."

"Admittedly, this control is far from complete. Its extension is greatly to be desired."

Thomas Midgley Jr., American mechanical engineer, chemist, inventor extraordinaire, 1889 - 1944

"Thomas Midgley’s biggest and most deadly inventions include chemical antiknock agents, with tetraethyl lead being the principal one of them used in his leaded gasoline, the extraction of bromine from sea water, and the use of fluorine to produce refrigerating compounds. With his inventions, Thomas Midgley Jr. contributed to the poisoning of three generations of children, increased the risk of skin cancer and other skin problems related to exposure to UV rays, and contributed greatly to global warming."

Susan Fourtane, Interesting Engineering, 2018

What an 'interesting' legacy for a man of his times; an enthusiastic, enterprising inventor, a true original, and in his own way a genius of sorts. Genius does not necessarily accord with resolute forthright and principled. Curiosity about the chemical properties of substances that could alter known combinations and improve them to produce ingenious and seemingly more useful compounds, this man forged ahead with his discoveries, knowing that patented discoveries would deliver renown, accolades and financial remuneration.

Thomas Midgley Jr. was born to a family of inventors, living most of his life in Columbus, Ohio. He worked for the giant General Motors corporation, said to be a pleasant, enthusiastic man in temperament, an avidly devoted scientist. At General Motors he worked under another mechanical engineer, Charles Kettering, engineer and inventor himself. The two men had much in common and shared a mutual respect for each other.

Thomas Midgley reached great heights in his career, elevated to president and chair of the
American Chemical Society. He held 117 patents in his name, and became "the most decorated chemist in the United States", according to biographer Sharon Bertsch McGrayne. On the way to becoming the most decorated chemist, he achieved some controversial milestones.

Inventions that were hailed in their time as wonderful steps forward for humanity. It was only in hindsight that the world realized the depth of natural degradation that followed his inventions. At the time his inventions were unveiled they were ground-breaking advances. His 1921 additive tetraethyl lead to gasoline reduced the damage car engines experienced by the tiny explosions called 'knocking'.

He was credited as a "national hero" in the United States in reflection of leaded gas enabling Allied warplanes to outmanoeuvre German and Japanese enemies' planes. Thomas Midgley as a professional chemist was aware of the dangers inherent in lead poisoning. Once production of leaded gas was initiated at the General Motors plant, 15 plant workers are known to have died, others psychotically affected.

In 1965 a study found American levels of airborne lead had increased a thousand-fold since 1923. Before being phased out from the 1970s onward, airborne lead had spread worldwide, It contributed to the deaths of 1.2 million people yearly, and diminished countless children's intelligence levels as a result of its ubiquitous airborne prevalence.

Some years later, in 1928, his experiments resulted in a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) to cool refrigerators and refrigerated railroad cars, along with refrigerated trucks. This refrigeration, considered safe at the time, was also credited with saving millions of lives through refrigerating food in transit, and vaccines, reducing pathogenic infectious diseases, food poisoning and its sometimes deadly symptoms.

 

 

Again, by the 1970s, scientists came to the realization that CFCs had produced a hole in the ozone layer, threatening the globe's atmospheric cover with the dangerous entry levels of radiation from the sun. Thomas Midgley, wrote historian J.R. McNeill, "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history".

One of Thomas Midgley's last inventions took his life at age 55. He had contracted poliomyelitis which physically disabled him. He met the challenge by constructing a series of pulleys to aid his movements. In 1944, he was strangled to death by his own invention.

"Midgley had an enormous interest in self-delusion when it came to a product that he was so connected to."

"Of course, he had an ethical dilemma. Whether he fooled himself, lied, or was just oblivious to what future generations would have to deal with is beyond me."

David Rosner, historian, Columbia University; co-author of Lead Wars and Deceit and Denial

NASA, Earth Observatory