The Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)
2026-05-22 · 37 min · episode 21 · 6 entities
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Feed author/publisher: Pushkin Industries
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Feed category: Society & Culture
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Feed category: History
Entities found in this episode
persons 2
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Feed author/publisher: Pushkin Industries
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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: Pushkin Industries
concepts 2
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Feed category: Society & Culture
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websites 2
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Feed category: History
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Feed category: History
Episode description as stored
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
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