Thomas Midgley Jr. Facts
Thomas Midgley Jr. Facts
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| Interesting Thomas Midgley Jr. Facts: |
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| Thomas Midgley was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania but grew up in Columbus, Ohio. |
| In 1911 he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. |
| In 1916 he began working for General Motors at its Dayton Research Laboratory. |
| While there he discovered that adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline preventing "knocking," or pre-ignition, in internal combustion engines. |
| The substance was named "ethyl" by General Motors and all mention of lead was omitted. |
| The automobile industry promoted TEL fuels as superior because it greatly increased their profits. |
| In 1922 Midgley was awarded the Nichols Medal from the American Chemical Society for TEL. |
| In 1923 Midgley took a prolonged vacation stating, "After a year's work in organic lead I find that my lungs have been affected and that it is necessary to drop all work and get a large supply of fresh air." |
| In April 1923 General Motors created the General Motors Chemical Company to supervise the production of TEL. |
| Over the course of the eight year project, eight workers died of lead poisoning. |
| In 1924 General Motors partnered with Standard Oil to create the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation for producing and marketing TEL. |
| Within the first two months of its operation the new plant had five new deaths and cases of hallucinations and insanity brought about by exposure to lead. |
| In October 1924 Midgley claimed in a press conference that TEL was safe and even poured it over his hands and inhaled its vapors as a demonstration. |
| The State of New Jersey ordered the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation plant closed. |
| A few months after the press conference, Midgley went to Europe for treatment for lead poisoning. |
| In the 1920s refrigeration systems relied on ammonia, chloromethane, propane and sulfur dioxide but these were all either toxic or explosive or flammable. |
| The Frigidaire division of General Motors wanted an alternative refrigerant. |
| Charles Kettering, vice president of research for General Motors, assembled a team to study the problem. |
| They eventually synthesized Freon which they thought would be too stable to be toxic. |
| In 1937 Midgley received the Perkin Medal from The Society of Chemical Industry. |
| In 1941 he received the Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society. |
| He was awarded the Willard Gibbs Award in 1942. |
| He contracted polio in 1942, which left him severely disabled. |
| He died of strangulation when he became tangled in the ropes of the device he invented to help him get out of bed. |
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