The Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)
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I'm Jake Brennan, and on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison, or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of, or that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bundy. Listen to Disgraceland on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started and she died again. And now we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died, the third way. Pushkin.
Thomas Midgley, Jr. was born on College Hill in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, May 18, 1889. His father, Thomas Midgley, Sr., was a prolific inventor in a variety of fields, but notably that of automobile tires. And his mother, Hattie.
A eulogy for an inventor, a hero of industrial science who changed the world and who died tragically young, aged just 55. Thomas Midgley Jr. studied mechanical engineering, but he was just as fascinated by chemistry. As a young researcher employed by General Motors, Midgley took to carrying a copy of the periodic table around in his pocket to inform his quest for new ideas. By the end of his life, Midgley had accumulated over 100 patents. We're going to hear about three of his inventions.
In 1916, Midgley became a member of our research staff and began then his long association with me and his remarkably productive career in research.
The eulogist is Charles Boss Kettering, himself an inventor of some renown. Kettering was Thomas Midgley's boss in the General Motors Research Department. He went on to become a lifelong friend, mentor and business associate, as the two men built lucrative careers with General Motors and the DuPont Corporation.
What do you want me to do next, boss? That simple question and the answer to it turned out to be the beginning of a great adventure in the life of a most versatile man.
Versatile indeed. The brain children of Thomas Midgley touched many areas of life. This pudgy, bespectacled inventor seemed to personify the mid-20th century ideal of progress. as summed up by DuPont in their famous 1930s advertising slogan. Better things for better living through chemistry. In his eulogy, Boss Kettering runs through Midgley's long list of accomplishments. President of the American Chemical Society, winner of the Nichols Medal, the Perkin Medal, the Priestley Medal, the Willard Gibbs Medal, the Longstreth Medal, honorary doctorates from the College of Worcester and the Ohio State University. Kettering quotes the citation from Ohio State.
Midgley contributed so greatly to more pleasant and efficient living. He has made science a liberator, and we rejoice with him in the satisfactions that must be his in seeing the fruits of his labour. Posterity will acknowledge their permanent value.
Posterity, alas, was not as kind to Midgley as his many admirers had expected. But they were absolutely right to say that he would change the world. He did. he made it much, much worse. I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to Cautionary Tales.
What do you want me to do next, boss? One day, when Thomas Midgley asked that question of Charles Kettering, the boss had a problem he wanted Midgley to solve. The problem had to do with refrigeration. At the time, people didn't have fridges at home. It was too dangerous. The chemicals you needed for the cooling coils were either toxic or flammable, so refrigeration was mainly used in industrial settings by trained personnel. Even then, accidents were common. Kettering wanted Midgley to invent a way to cool things safely.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–10:20
2
Who was Thomas Midgley and why does his story matter?
10:20–30:09
3
How did Midgley invent CFCs and why were they hailed as safe refrigerants?
30:09–33:40
4
What experiments convinced scientists CFCs were harmless in the 1930s?
33:40–45:04