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What is the most unique thing a person has done or is? (lemmy.nz)

submitted 1 month ago by absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I was reading a post about unique things you wouldn't want, such as a nasty medical condition named after you.

That got me thinking.

What is the most unique thing.

Being the tallest person doesn't count, because there is always a tallest person...

I thought maybe units of measure, there are not really that many units named after people. Newton, Pascal, ampere etc... Turns out there are quite a few.

Next thought was atomic elements, there are 19 named after 20 people. That is fairly unique 20 people out of the ~110 billion to have ever lived, have an element named after them.

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[–] Naich@lemmings.world 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thomas Midgley Jr. Invented putting lead in fuel and using CFCs for refrigeration. He died when he was strangulated by the machine he invented to help him get out of bed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley "had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history"

Ouch.

[–] Subtracty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have often thought about who the person with the worst carbon footprint would be if you accounted for factors like inventions/policies/war etc. This answers my question, unless there are even worse contributors.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think Midgley really did anything to increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere — just the amount of lead and CFCs.

[–] Subtracty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I was wrong to say carbon footprint, I suppose I'm curious about who has contributed the most to polluting the environment and damaging our climate.