The Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thomas Midgley's inventions caused his own death, hastened the deaths of millions of people around the world, and very nearly extinguished all life on land.
Midgley and his employers didn't set out to poison the air with leaded gasoline or wreck the ozone layer with CFCs - but while these dire consequences were unintended... could they have been anticipated?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:19.9 | Thomas Midgely Jr. was born on College Hill in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, May 18, 1889. |
| 0:26.9 | His father, Thomas Midgley, Sr. was a prolific inventor in a variety of fields, but notably that of automobile tires. |
| 0:34.6 | A eulogy for an inventor, a hero of industrial science, who changed the world, |
| 0:42.8 | and who died tragically young, aged just 55. |
| 0:48.0 | Thomas Midgley Jr. studied mechanical engineering, |
| 0:51.7 | but he was just as fascinated by chemistry. |
| 0:54.0 | As a young researcher, employed by General Motors, Midgley took... mechanical engineering, but he was just as fascinated by chemistry. |
| 0:57.4 | As a young researcher, employed by General Motors, |
| 1:02.1 | Midgley took to carrying a copy of the periodic table around in his pocket to inform his quest for new ideas. |
| 1:05.8 | By the end of his life, Midgley had accumulated over 100 patents. |
| 1:11.4 | We're going to hear about three of his inventions. |
| 1:15.4 | In 1916, Midley became a member of our research staff |
| 1:19.7 | and began then his long association with me |
| 1:22.2 | and his remarkably productive career in research. |
| 1:25.5 | The eulogist is Charles Boss Kettering, himself an inventor of some renown. |
| 1:32.1 | Kettering was Thomas Midgely's boss in the General Motors Research Department. |
| 1:37.0 | He went on to become a lifelong friend, mentor and business associate, |
| 1:41.8 | as the two men built lucrative careers with General Motors and the DuPont Corporation. |
| 1:48.6 | What do you want me to do next, boss? That simple question and the answer to it turned out to be the beginning of a great adventure in the life of a most versatile man. |
| 1:58.5 | Versatile indeed. The brain children of Thomas Midgley |
... |
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