Thomas Midgley, Jr. was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on May 19, 1889. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Cornell University in 1911 with a degree in mechanical engineering. The father of Thomas Midgley, Jr. was also an inventor. Midgley is a mechanical engineer and an American chemical. Thomas Midgley, Jr. was a key figure in the team of chemists led by Charles F. Kettering, who developed tetraethyllead (TEL) additive to gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). During his career, Midgley gave more than one hundred patents.

In 1916, Thomas Midgley began working at General Motors. In December 1921, while still working under the direction of Charles Kattering in Daton Research Laboratories, a subsidiary of General Motors, Midgley discovered that the addition of Tetraethyl Lead to gasoline to prevent "knocking" on the internal combustion engine.


Thomas Midgley Jr
Oil companies and automakers, especially General Motors owned the patent jointly filed by Kettering and Midgley. In December 1922, American Chemical Society awarded Midgley Nichols Medal in 1923 for "Use of Anti-knock compound in Fuel Motorcycle". Midgley Nichols Medal is the premier award she has received during his career. 

Thomas Midgley never experienced lead poisoning, in 1923 Thomas Midgley took a vacation panjag to heal itself in order to recover. "After about a year working in an organic lead," he wrote in January 1923, "I found that my lungs have been exposed and have to get a supply of fresh air." He subsequently went to Miami, Florida for recovery. 

In April 1923, General Motors created the General Motors Chemical Company or GMCC, in order to oversee the production of TEL by the company DUPONT. Kettering elected president, and Midgley became vice president. However, after two deaths and several cases of lead poisoning in TEL prototype plant in Dayton, Ohio. 

In 1924, dissatisfied with the pace of production TEL DuPont uses "bromide process", General Motors and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey is now known as ExxonMobil created the Ethyl Gasoline Company to manufacture and market TEL. Ethyl Corporation to build a new chemical plant using high temperature processes ethyl chloride in Bayway refinery in New Jersey. In the first two months of operation, the new plant to be disturbed by the number of cases of lead poisoning, hallucinations, madness, and five deaths in quick succession. 

On October 30, 1924, Midgley participated in a press conference whose purpose was to show the obvious safety TEL. In this demonstration, he poured TEL upper hand, then placed the bottle of chemicals under his nose and inhale the vapors for sixty seconds, and he admitted that he could do this every day without any problems. However, the state of New Jersey ordered the Bayway plant had to be closed several days later, and Jersey Standard forbidden to manufacture TEL there again without state permission. Midgley then had to take leave from her job after being diagnosed with lead poisoning. Midgley relieved of his duties from his position as vice president of GMCC in April 1925, reportedly due to a lack of experience in terms of organization, but he remains an employee of General Motors. 

In 1941, Midgley was given the highest award by the American Chemical Society that Priestley Medal. This was followed by Willard Gibbs Award in 1942. Thomas Midgley also holds two honorary degrees and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences USA. In 1944, he was elected president and chairman of the American Chemical Society. 

In 1940, at age 51, Midgley contracted poliomyelitis, which makes disabled. This forced him to devise elaborate system of strings and pulleys to help others lift it out of bed. This system is the cause of death is not fair, when the rope entangled in the device and at the age of 55 years Thomas Midgley died of strangulation.