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Thomas Midgley, Jr. (May 18, 1889 - November 2, 1944), was an American mechanical engineer turned chemist. He developed both the tetra-ethyl lead additive to gasoline and chloro-fluorocarbons (CFCs). While lauded at the time for his discoveries, today his legacy is seen as far more mixed. One historian remarked that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth history."
Career
Midgley graduated from Cornell University in 1911 with a degree in mechanical engineering. While working for General Motors, he discovered that leaded gasoline prevented internal combustion engines from "knocking". The subsequent addition of lead to to gasoline eventually resulted in huge amounts of lead into the atmosphere, causing health problems around the world. Workers producing the additive were even more greatly affected. In 1924, Midgley took a prolonged vacation to cure himself of lead poisoning — a fact he deliberately kept secret, holding a press conference to demonstrate the "safety" of contact with the substance. In this demonstration, he poured tetra-ethyl lead over his hands, then placed a bottle of the chemical over his nose and breathed it in for sixty seconds, declaring that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems whatsoever.
Eventually, he repented of lead (privately, at least), and invented chlorinated fluorocarbons or CFCs, after hearing about people suffocating from gas leaks (often ammonia) from refrigerators.
In 1941, the American Chemical Society gave Midgley its highest award, the Priestley Medal.
Thomas Midgley Jr. held more than 170 patents. At 51, he contracted polio, which left him severely disabled. This led him to devise an elaborate system of strings and pulleys to lift him from bed. This system was the eventual cause of his death when he was accidentally entangled in the ropes of this device and died of strangulation at the age of 55. Some have suggested that Midgley deliberately entangled himself and have labeled his death as a suicide. Midgley died before the effect of CFCs upon the ozone layer became widely known.
Aftermath
CFCs replaced the various toxic or explosive substances previously used as the working fluid in heat pumps and refrigerators. CFCs were also used as propellants in aerosol spray cans, metered dose inhalers (asthma inhalers), and more.
The Montreal Protocol forbade major countries to produce CFCs, and their production is set to cease on the rest of the planet by 2010. Health services and pharmacological companies have been replacing these inhalers with devices that do not contain CFCs. Unfortunately, CFC-based heat-pumps are significantly more efficient than any of their environmentally safe alternatives (which use Alkanes and HFCs, for example), providing great incentive for those who refuse to believe the environmental danger of CFCs to resist the banning of the substances. It has also been suggested that there is a serious loophole in the current ban in production, in that affected countries can still import and use CFCs manufactured in other countries outside the legislation.
References
Book: A Short History of Nearly Everything,
- By Bill Bryson (Author), ISBN 0385660049
Article: Secret History of Lead, The Nation March 20, 2002
1889 births | 1944 deaths | Cornell University alumni | Priestley Medal | Chemists
Thomas Midgley | Thomas Midgley | Thomas Midgley Jr. | תומאס מידג'לי | Thomas Midgley | Thomas Midgley Jr.
"Thomas Midgley, Jr."