Clair Pattersons Un-Lead It

Brady Volkmann
Senior Division
Individual Website
Student-Composed Words: 1199 words
Process Paper: 499 words

As a long-time fanatic of science, I immediately knew I had to find a scientist who had
taken a stand. I was finally presented with the opportunity to study scientists of the past in a
historical context. Unfortunately, I did not know any scientists that fit the role. Finding such a
noble scientist was incredibly difficult; few had taken a stand, let alone a stand to be revered.
After sifting through hundreds of American chemists, biologists, and physicists, only one fit the
theme. I had stumbled upon the hidden geochemist Dr. Clair C. Patterson. Dr. Patterson
immediately gained my deference for utilizing his research on lead in the environment to take a
stand against large gasoline corporations that put tetraethyl lead in their products. As I researched
more of Pattersons works, I grew increasingly fond of him and his work. Not only did Patterson
fit the theme, I had an opportunity to shed light on a little-known scientist that deserved much
attention.
After finding Dr. Patterson, I delved into researching him. California Institute of
Technology Archives provided my starting point with many photographs of Patterson and
descriptions of his early life in research. From there, I collected Pattersons published works to
understand his goal as a career geochemist and his findings on the effects of harmful lead in the
environment. I purchased all the books about Patterson to get a more detailed version of his war
on lead. After deep research on the man himself, I began to research his competition and the
actual congressional hearings on the matter of lead contamination. I uncovered various early
1900s propaganda for leaded gasoline. The Edmund S. Muskie: Archives & Special Collections
Library provided ample documents on Sen. Muskie, who was crucial in these congressional
hearings. I then perused the Library of Congress for its documents on the hearings and for

photographs. I concluded my research by probing the environmental effects of Pattersons

success on the Environmental Protection Agencys website.
I chose the medium of the Website to utilize my proficiency in website design and
coding. I used the red, white, and blue taken from actual tetraethyl lead gasoline propaganda of
the time to give the website an Americana feel. I provided a timeline to give an overview of
Pattersons journey. The website contains titles in cursive scripts to reflect old gasoline pumps.
Lastly, I used bits of coding intermittently in the website to make it interactive, including the Pit
Stops.
Clair Patterson relates to the National History Day theme, Taking a Stand in History,
candidly. The geochemists research on lead in the environment caused him to realize the
harmful effects of lead contamination. Based on this epiphany, Patterson took a stand against the
Dr. Midgley, Dr. Kehoe, and Ethyl Corporation for their fomentation of lead in gasoline. Through
Pattersons objections, the use of lead in gasoline was effectively banned entirely through the
Environmental Protection Agency in 1986, leading to greater safety for chemical engineers in
gasoline companies and all automobile users.