The Man Who Accidentally Killed The Most People In History

Summary by Krater

This video examines how Thomas Midgley Jr.'s inventions of leaded gasoline and CFCs caused historic environmental and health disasters, and concludes that despite severe consequences, leaded gasoline is still used in piston-driven airplane engines.

From the video

Answers: How did one scientist's inventions cause massive environmental and health disasters?

• leaded gasoline history
• Thomas Midgley Jr inventions
• tetraethyl lead toxicity
• Clair Patterson earth age research
• chlorofluorocarbons and ozone depletion
• lead exposure health effects
• lead and crime rate correlation

What it concludes

• Leaded gasoline and CFCs caused millions of deaths, decreased global intelligence, increased crime rates, and created two major environmental disasters.
• Thomas Midgley Jr.'s inventions of tetraethyl lead and CFCs had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history.
• Clair Patterson's measurement of lead in primordial rocks and meteorites revealed that the Earth is 4.55 billion years old and that modern humans have vastly elevated levels of lead in their bones.
• Studies linked elevated childhood lead exposure to decreased IQ, behavioral problems, and higher rates of failing high school.
• Leaded gasoline emissions are strongly correlated with a rise and fall in violent crime rates across multiple countries with a 20-year lag.
• Leaded gas is still used in piston-driven airplane engines, making it the largest source of lead emissions into the air in the US.