Our happy life today is inseparable from the inventions and creations of scientists of all generations, who use their intelligence to change the world. However, the scientist we are going to talk about today, is Thomas Mickilli, a scientist named "the god of death in the scientific world".
On May 18, 1889, Thomas was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, USA. His father was an inventor.
Being influenced by his father since childhood, Thomas developed a strong interest in mechanical devices. With his powerful genes, he showed amazing talent for invention at this time.
Thomas invented more than 100 patents in his life, but not many of them have been passed down.
Figure 1
Grown up Thomas was admitted to Cornell University and joined the Dayton Laboratory. Since he was 25 years old, he has been studying chemistry by himself while developing the gasoline additive .
After he spent several years testing thousands of compounds, he finally synthesized tetraethyl lead in 1921. tetraethyl lead kills people invisibly, but has extremely high commercial value.
At that time, there was a big problem in the automobile industry: explosion resistance, tetraethyl lead is low in cost and easy to synthesis. Just add a small amount of tetraethyl lead to gasoline to solve the explosion resistance problem. After
tetraethyl lead was invented, it was quickly put into production and applied, attracting many consumers.
However, lead and lead compounds are toxic, which can pose a serious threat to people's life and health. To mask the toxicity of tetraethyl lead, Thomas named it ethyl .
This colorless oily compound made Thomas earn $200 million. Thomas also won the Knicks Award from the American Chemical Society in 1922 for the invention of tetraethyl lead.
However, the paper cannot contain the fire. Many people have adverse reactions due to the gas absorbed by tetraethyl lead. Five workers in the factory that made tetraethyl lead died of because of lead poisoning.
And to prove that tetraethyl lead is non-toxic, sucked hard in front of the reporter for a minute. Thomas spent a whole year finally recovering from this minute. can really be said to have shot himself in the foot.
Thomas also calmly said that he was exposed to tetraethyl lead every day, it was non-toxic and harmless, and he himself did not feel any discomfort.
Figure 2
This public opinion crisis was safely survived under his own risk.
Someone later studied that since the use of leaded gasoline , the lead content in Americans has increased by 625 times. In 1986, the United States banned the use of gasoline containing tetraethyl lead.
Later, Thomas started to think of refrigerator refrigerant again. The refrigerator had already appeared at that time, but the refrigerant in the refrigerator was toxic and flammable, and the refrigeration equipment was also bulky and expensive. Many people died of toxic refrigerant. It took him only 3 days to synthesize Freon for refrigeration.
Figure 3
This substance is non-toxic, harmless and non-flammable, and is the best choice for refrigerants - of course, it is just harmful to the atmosphere. This time he used the same trick again. took a sip of Freon in public at the press conference, and then slowly blew it to the burning candle, which immediately went out.
Thomas became famous again and in 1937, he was once again awarded the Platinum Medal from the American Chemical Industry Society.
With Freon, we can now enjoy air conditioning and refrigerators in summer. It is also with this that successfully poked a big hole in the ozone layer , which briefly connected it to create the current greenhouse effect .
Nowadays, Freon has also been discontinued, and Mikilly is the well-deserved "individual creature with the greatest impact on the atmosphere in the history of the earth."
Perhaps because I have been dealing with chemical reagent all my life, Thomas suffered from polio and became a disabled person after a few years of developing Freon.
Because of his lack of mobility, it was difficult for him to get up or turn over in bed, so he, who was good at using his brain, invented a rope pulley system to help him. However, in 1944, he was suffocated to death because he was wrapped around his neck by his rope when he turned over. He was 55 years old.
Figure 4
