Thomas Midgley , Jr . Thomas Midgley , Jr. ( May 18 , 1889 - November 2 , 1944 ) , was an American mechanical engineer turned chemist . He developed both the tetra-ethyl lead ( TEL ) additive to gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons ( CFCs ) , and held over a hundred patents . While lauded at the time for his discoveries , today his legacy is seen as far more mixed considering the serious negative environmental impacts of these innovations . One historian remarked that Midgley `` had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth history . `` Early life Midgley was born in Beaver Falls , Pennsylvania , to a father who was also an inventor . He grew up in Columbus , Ohio , and graduated from Cornell University in 1911 with a degree in mechanical engineering . Discovery of Ethyl While working for Dayton Research Laboratories ( a subsidiary of General Motors ) in December of 1921 , Midgley discovered that the addition of tetra-ethyl lead ( TEL ) to gasoline prevented internal combustion engines from `` knocking '' . The company dubbed the substance `` Ethyl '' , avoiding all mention of lead in reports and advertising . Oil companies and auto makers , especially GM which owned the patent , strenuously promoted leaded fuel as an alternative to ethanol or ethanol-blended fuels , on which they could make very little profit . In December 1922 , the American Chemical Society awarded Midgley the William H. Nichols Medal , the first of several major awards he won during his career . The subsequent addition of lead to gasoline eventually resulted in the release of huge amounts of lead into the atmosphere , causing health problems around the world . Midgley himself had to take a prolonged vacation to cure himself of lead poisoning . `` After about a year 's work in organic lead , `` he wrote in January 1923 , `` 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. '' He repaired to Miami . In April 1923 , GM created the General Motors Chemical Company to supervise the production of TEL by the DuPont company , and placed Charles Kettering as president and Midgley as vice president . However , after two deaths and several cases of lead poisoning at the TEL prototype plant in Dayton , Ohio , the staff at Dayton was said in 1924 to be `` depressed to the point of considering giving up the whole tetraethyl lead program. '' Over the course of the next year , eight more people would die at DuPont 's Deepwater , New Jersey plant . Dissatisfied with the speed of DuPont 's production using their `` bromide process '' , GM and Standard Oil created the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation in 1924 , and built a new TEL plant using a more dangerous high-temperature `` ethyl chloride process '' at the Bayway Refinery in New Jersey . Within the first two months of its operation , the Bayway plant was plagued by more cases of lead poisoning , hallucinations , insanity , and then five deaths in quick succession . On October 30 , Midgley participated in a press conference to demonstrate the `` safety '' of contact with the substance . In this demonstration , he poured tetra-ethyl lead over his hands , then placed a bottle of the chemical over his nose and breathed it in for sixty seconds , declaring that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems whatsoever . However , the plant was decisively shut down by the State of New Jersey a few days later , and Standard was forbidden to manufacture TEL there again without state permission . Midgley was relieved of his position as vice president of GMCC in April of 1925 , reportedly due to his inexperience in organizational matters , but he remained an employee of GM . Discovery of Freon In 1930 , General Motors charged Midgley with developing a non-toxic and safe refrigerant for household appliances . He discovered dichlorodifluoromethane , a chlorinated fluorocarbon ( CFC ) which he dubbed Freon . CFCs replaced the various toxic or explosive substances previously used as the working fluid in heat pumps and refrigerators . CFCs were also used as propellants in aerosol spray cans , metered dose inhalers ( asthma inhalers ) , and more . He was awarded the Perkins Medal in 1937 for this work . In 1941 , the American Chemical Society gave Midgley its highest award , the Priestley Medal , and followed up with the William Gibbs Medal in 1942 . He also held two honorary degrees , and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences . In 1944 , he was president and chairman of the American Chemical Society . Aftermath In 1940 , he contracted polio at the age of 51 , which left him severely disabled . This led him to devise an elaborate system of strings and pulleys to lift him from bed . This system was the eventual cause of his death when he was accidentally entangled in the ropes of this device and died of strangulation at the age of 55 . Midgley died before the effect of CFCs upon the ozone layer became widely known . Standards to phase out leaded gasoline were first implemented in the United States in 1973 , and in 1996 , the Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles . However , usage will remain legal in the U.S. for aircraft , racing cars , farm equipment , and marine engines until 2008 . Leaded gasoline is still common in South America , Africa , and some parts of Asia and the Middle East . The Montreal Protocol forbade major countries to produce CFCs , and their production is set to cease on the rest of the planet by 2010 . Health services and pharmacological companies have been replacing inhalers which use CFCs with devices that do not . Unfortunately , CFC-based heat-pumps are significantly more efficient than any of their environmentally safe alternatives , such as those which use alkanes and haloalkanes ( also known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs ) . This provides great incentive for those who refuse to believe the environmental danger of CFCs to resist the banning of the substances . It has also been suggested that there is a serious loophole in the current ban in production , in that affected countries can still import and use CFCs manufactured in other countries outside the legislation . References ^ McNeill , J.R. Something New Under the Sun : An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World ( 2001 ) New York : Norton , xxvi , 421 pp. ( as reviewed in the Journal of Political Ecology ) ^ a   b   c Inventors Hall of Fame Profile : Thomas Midgely ^ a   b   c `` The Secret History of Lead `` The Nation , March 20 , 2002 ^ a   b   c   d Kovarik , Bill . `` Charles F. Kettering and the 1921 Discovery of Tetraethyl Lead In the Context of Technological Alternatives '' , presented to the Society of Automotive Engineers Fuels & Lubricants Conference , Baltmore , Maryland. , 1994 ; revised in 1999 . ^ Markowitz , Gerald and Rosner , David . Deceit and Denial : The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution . Berkeley , California : University of California Press , 2002 ^ Bryson , Bill . A Short History of Nearly Everything . ( 2003 ) Broadway Books , USA. ISBN 0-385-66004-9 Categories : 1889 births | 1944 deaths | Cornell University alumni | Priestley Medal | Chemists In other languages : Deutsch | Español | Français | עברית | Nederlands | Svenska 