Thomas Midgley, Jr. has been said to have "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history."  Midgley invented tetra-ethyl lead, a gasoline additive that raised octane ratings and released record amounts of lead into the atmosphere that have been linked to health problems worldwide, and chlorofluorocarbon, also known as Freon, which is responsible for the hole in the ozone layer.  In 1951 he contracted polio, which crippled him, and developed a system of ropes on pulleys that lifted him out of bed and strangled him in 1955.