One Man Gave Us Leaded Gas and the Ozone Hole Did He Know

In July 2021, the last pump in the world selling leaded gasoline for cars ran dry in Algeria. It took a hundred years to get there. Leaded gas — and the chemicals that later opened a hole in the ozone layer — were invented by the same man: Thomas Midgley Jr., an engineer at General Motors' research lab in Dayton, Ohio. This is a case file with two charges. For each one we ask a single question — did he know the risk? — and answer it only with dated documents. The two answers are not the same. ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 The last tank of leaded gas 3:08 The engine that knocked 6:26 The man and the search 9:36 Ethyl and the "loony gas" 14:42 The second invention: Freon 18:30 The price 25:03 Today: the verdict on two charges 📚 SOURCES UNEP — the era of leaded petrol is over (Aug 30, 2021): https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/pres... McFarland, Hu & Reuben — lead exposure and IQ, PNAS 2022: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8... Egan et al. — blood lead in U.S. children, NHANES (EHP 2021): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7... W. Kovarik — The Ethyl Conflict: https://billkovarik.com/bio/cabi/the-ethyl... W. Kovarik — Ethyl and the "loony gas" history: https://billkovarik.com/bio/cabi/ket-tel/ The Conversation — a century of leaded fuel: https://theconversation.com/a-century-of-t... Thomas Midgley Jr.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgl.... National Inventors Hall of Fame — Midgley: https://www.invent.org/inductees/thomas-mi... Invention & Technology — Freon: https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/f... C&EN — CFC research, chemical landmark: https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i24/Resear... National Academies — Clair Patterson memoir: https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/620... Patterson, Archives of Environmental Health (1965): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108... Needleman et al., NEJM (1979): https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM... U.S. EPA — final phaseout of leaded gasoline (1996): https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/e... Federal Register, Feb 2, 1996: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-199... U.S. EPA — aerosol CFC ban (1978): https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/g... UKRI — the discovery of the ozone hole: https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/how-we-are... Montreal Protocol (UNEP): https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-p... Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistr... UNEP/WMO 2023 — ozone layer recovery: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/pres... UNEP — 443 million skin cancer cases avoided in the U.S.: https://ozone.unep.org/montreal-protocol-l... EPA endangerment finding, aircraft lead (Federal Register, 2023): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/... FAA — path to eliminate leaded avgas by 2030: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-industry-... Quotes shown in quotation marks are verbatim from the sources above; paraphrases are marked as such on screen. 📷 CREDITS Archive film (public domain, Prelinger Archives / Internet Archive): [Research Work] (GM, 1930), Down the Gasoline Trail (1935), Thru Traffic (1935), Master Hands (1936), Chevrolet Leader News (1936), The Proof Parade (Frigidaire, 1937), Test Tube Tale (1941), The Inside Story of Modern Gasoline (1946), Oil for Aladdin's Lamp (1949), Freedom of the American Road (1955), Frigidaire Imperial Line (1956), Elements of the Automobile: The Engine, The Earth Belongs to the People (1971), Your Chance to Live: Earthwatch (1972); Cops (Buster Keaton, 1922). NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Scientific Visualization Studio (public domain). Photos (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons / Library of Congress): John Margolies Roadside America collection; Bain News Service; E. C. Kropp Co.; Armstrong Cork Company; TTC Archives. CC BY 2.0: David Shane. CC BY 3.0: Kathinka Engels. CC BY-SA 3.0: Janwikifoto; Another Believer — all via Wikimedia Commons. Stock video: Pexels, Pixabay, Envato Elements. Map data: Natural Earth (public domain). Graphics: It Changed America. #history #leadedgas #ozonelayer