The one-man environmental disaster

• Autores: Fred Pearce
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3129, 2017, págs. 42-43
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • By the time of his death in 1944, Thomas Midgley Jr was regarded as one of the great inventors of the 20th century. From cars to kitchens, his creations ran the gamut. He had turned Henry Ford's "bangers" into speedy, must-have Cadillacs with a magic ingredient added to petrol, and for an encore found a chemical that made killer refrigerators and aircon units safe for millions of homes. On the face of it, an enviable legacy--except that the products of Midgley's genius were fatally flawed. His lead-based petrol additive damaged the developing brains of millions of children globally; and Freon, the first CFC, almost destroyed Earth's ozone layer. Here, Pearce discusses why Midgley is now seen as the world's worst inventor.