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's history."
The husband of Susan Silbey, my methods instructor and a brilliant mentor, passed away after a long battle with cancer.
I generally want to never link to TED content, but the animation of DNA at around 3:30-4:00 minutes in is pretty awesome.
