The Thomas Midgley Award

The Thomas Midgley Award, founded by the Section in 1965, is given for outstanding research contributions in the field of chemistry related to the automotive industries. The award was originally funded by a grant from Ethyl Corporation. In 1994, the estate of the late Dr. George Brewer, a Midgley Medalist, provided a bequest to add a cash prize in addition to the medal.

The Award is named in honor of the late Thomas Midgley, Jr., an Ethyl Corporation Vice President who was one of the most creative, far-seeing research scientists of his generation. Paramount among Midgley's achievements was the discovery of the use of tetraethyl lead as a gasoline antiknock compound, an event which helped to lay the groundwork for an unlimited automotive progress. But he was active as well on a number of other scientific endeavors. His many milestone accomplishments in the years between 1920 and 1940, such as the development of the halocarbon ("Freon") refrigerants, won for Midgley an enduring place among the greats of American chemistry.

A person who saw very clearly the full measure of Midgley's genius was the man who knew him best--Charles F "Boss" Kettering.   Kettering once observed that, "Midgley was not only an inventor--he also had the ability to reduce the invention to practical usefulness and sell and educate the public as to its advantages. The combination of these three things in an individual seldom occurs. He was a great crusader as well as a great scientist. His work and inventions have added greatly to the industrial and economic status of the world in which we progress and in scientific thinking in the new world of tomorrow."  In this sense, the Midgley Award truly is a memorial to inventive genius.

The following table lists the former recipients of the Midgley Award. Several short biographies of previous recipients are also available..