Clair Patterson invented a method of isolating/estimating minute quantities of lead isotopes present in rocks, and this led him to determine the age of the earth (something like 4.6 billion years) for the first time in human history.
He later went on to show that human industrial activity was causing the lead levels in the atmosphere (and so in the rocks and antarctic ice) to increase to dangerous levels. He fought a lone battle against the Ethyl corporation, the manufacturers of tetra-ethyl lead, the anti-knock additive in gasoline. It was largely becasue of his effects that the "Clean Air" bill was passed and TEL was banned in the United States.
(First learnt from Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything")
The Blog Moves On
7 years ago
