IN tE 1940s, a graduate student at ty of Cterson(anding, an Ioope measurement to try to get a definitive age for t last. Unfortunatelyall aminated—usually  contained somet ed to occur. Many years terson realized t ttable Oornamed thomas Midgley, Jr.

    Midgley raining, and t ayed so. Instead, erest in trial applications ofcry. In 1921, on,Oigated a compound called tetraetetraet it significantly reduced tion known asengine knock.

    Even to be dangerous, by tietury it could be found in all manner of consumer products. Food came in cans sealed er en stored in lead-lined tanks. It o fruit as a pesticidein te. It even came as part of toote tubes.  existed t didn’t bring a little lead into consumers’ lives. a greater and more lasting intimacy ts addition to gasoline.

    Lead is a neurotoxin. Get too muc and you can irreparably damage tral nervous system. Among toms associated s mostacute form it produces abrupt and terrifying ions, disturbing to victims andonlookers alike,   toget too muco your system.

    On to extract and  embarrassingly profitableto produce industrially—and tetraetably stop engines from knocking. So in1923 t corporations, General Motors, Du Pont, and Standard Oil ofNe enterprise called tion (later senedto simply Etion) o making as mucetraeto buy, and t proved to be a very great deal. tive “ethyl”

    because it sounded friendlier and less toxic troduced it for publicconsumption (in more  people realized) on February 1, 1923.

    Almost