The Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)
About this episode
The episode discusses the dangerous inventions of Thomas Midgley and their catastrophic effects on the environment and human health.
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? For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More episodes of Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
- The Dunning Canoe-ger Effect
- Presenting...This is History: A Dynasty to Die For
- How Civilizations Die - with Paul Cooper
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- From Drilled: The Carbon Gold Rush
- Angels, Gold and Lust: John Dee and the Philosopher's Stone (Part 2)
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