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I've got a sneaking suspicion we ought to go through everything else Thomas MIdgley Jr. invented and ban it, just to be sure. Leaded gas, CFCs, and the contrap
by Symmetry 5y ago
I've got a sneaking suspicion we ought to go through everything else Thomas MIdgley Jr. invented and ban it, just to be sure. Leaded gas, CFCs, and the contraption he killed himself with is a worrying pattern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.
- shucksley 5y agoThe fact that commenters at HN resort to ad hominem is a worrying pattern.
- refurb 5y agoSays the internet warrior who has invented nothing.
- jbuhbjlnjbn 5y agoYou don't know that. Also you are trying to defend this guy (from the wikipedia article): "Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history",[21] and Bill Bryson remarked that Midgley possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny"." To put his other inventions under more scrutiny seems like a smart idea, but arguments for authority seem weirdly misplaced in this context.
- refurb 5y agoYour hindsight is 20/20. Congratulations.
- jbuhbjlnjbn 5y agoAnd Midgley should also have known better, with the lead poisoning and all. Again, if you only need common sense to spot a very bad idea, there is just no excuse. Your argument has no legs to stand on.
- kybernetyk 5y agoBeing on HN he probably invented a novel way of making kids click on ads. But yeah, fridge bad. Car bad. t.HN
- bmitc 5y ago> However, within the first two months of its operation, the new plant was plagued by more cases of lead poisoning, hallucinations, insanity, and five deaths. > On October 30, 1924, Midgley participated in a press conference to demonstrate the apparent safety of TEL, in which he poured TEL over his hands, placed a bottle of the chemical under his nose, and inhaled its vapor for 60 seconds, declaring that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems. ... Midgley would later have to take leave of absence from work after being diagnosed with lead poisoning. Guy sounds like a nut. > Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history", and Bill Bryson remarked that Midgley possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny". Later down in the legacy section, these are some serious burns, almost laughable if it weren't for them being true and the consequences of that. But I must say, although it's fun to pin it on one man, many people and corporations were involved in the propagation of his catastrophes.
- formerly_proven 5y agoafter being diagnosed with lead poisoning ... again. > In 1923, Midgley took a long vacation in Miami, Florida, to cure himself of lead poisoning.
- BurningFrog 5y agoI think that proves he really believed what he was saying!
- DangitBobby 5y agoOr that he was willing to risk his health for wealth at everyone's expense.
- baobabKoodaa 5y agoNah. It's much more plausible that he sincerely believed lead wasn't that dangerous.
- mhh__ 5y agoDidn't CFCs save a lot of people's lives back in the days of badly designed fridges? He couldn't have known about the atmosphere