My girlfriend is now calling her home town "slutdrop" because of you guys. And yes, it is the same town.

Thomas Midgely, Jr. died the way he lived: inadvertently making it impossible to breathe.

"You're letting your psychotic fascination with railroads lead you into a suicidal gamble with the future of the company" -Actual quote from supertrain

All Garry's sound effects in this episode: Coffee saturation alarm: 0:32 Beaver falling of a cliff + trumpet: 1:47 1:52 The forbidden love of a cruise liner and a oil tanker 4:22 back in the pope mobile 13:36 the old standard (goose, train, gose and train) 13:45

After providing proof at the press conference that lead is perfectly fine, by pouring leaded petrol over his hands, he became very rude when entering rooms that had their doors closed....you know, because lead stops knocking.

Fun Fact: Thomas Midgley Jr. Had more of an impact on the composition of the Earth's atmosphere than any other living organism in history.

“And today, we are talking about Thomas Midgley Jr.” *thinking* “Son of Thomas Midgley?” *high-pitched wheezing*

So the pope infeastation made it into the title, but Gary's sound effects didn't?

My family made a beaver fall off a cliff once. It was when I was reasonably young, I think we were in Canada, we drove up a mountain road that turned out to be a dead end. We got out of the car anyway, and spotted something in the bushes. We tried to slowly approach, but we must have made too much noise or something because we startled it and saw its tail as it ran off, and suddenly heard "thump, thump, thump, thump" - the sound of a beaver falling down a steep hill.

'They can only move diagonally' I died

Statistically, the Vatican has two popes per square mile... (The pope infestation reminded me of this)

Funny thing: info on his father has been added to the article... you can almost guarentee it was a Citation Needed fan.

I feel really sad for Thomas Midgley. I might be wrong, but I have the impression that he just wanted to help, and to learn what he had unknowingly and almost single-handedly caused would have devastated him.

the superb one-two punch of "you don't make lead from plants" and "isn't a prototype plant a seed?"

Not content with poisoning pedestrians, Thomas soon moved on to punching holes in the ozone layer. Lovely chap, him.

I have the full playlist of episodes on shuffle and this is the second episode in a row where matt has made the "bishops move diagonally" joke

So, as a chemist, I was once doing some research about alkylcobalt compounds. And I stumbled by accident on that paper from the 1920s Where they suggested adding dimethylcadmium to gasoline to prevent engine knocking. (I just tried to find it again, and now realize there are even a couple patents on doing so!) So, in a way, we're lucky they instead went for lead!

"Player-ization of the entire orchestra." They already had that, Gary. It's called the Orchestrion. Think player piano on steroids. Also, propane fridges are still a thing today. They're surprisingly popular among the Amish communities of rural Pennsylvania because they keep food cold and preserved, but don't use electricity.

As a prize for that beaver impersonation (edit: and ALL the rest of the sound effects), Gary wins two conjoined hollow spheres made from the debris of the rockets that launched a famous space telescope. A double Hubble-rubble bubble.

Fun Fact: Tom has met Irwin Finkel, played ancient Mesopotamian games with him and even got explained how to write cuneiform into clay.

I'm so proud of myself, because I actually knew who this person was at the start of the episode! I spent the entire episode waiting for him to get to the chlorofluorocarbon, and the bit about him building the system of pulleys. Nobody needs to believe me, I just felt like bragging in the comments. I must say, I am surprised Australia never came up, since technically the hole in the ozone over Australia is this mans fault.

Propane-powered fridge... that sounds like a Colin Furze invention.

I'm always worried Chris will hit his head on the ceiling/stairs.

I couldn't re-find this episode for ages because I thought it was called "The Gary Brannan Sound Effects Special"

5:55 Considering the state of the United states railway, getting anywhere within 36 hours is a miracle just due to freight trains having all the priority.

“We technically have two popes” As of yesterday, the 31st of December 2022, we don’t anymore

This is what I want my friendships to be like

The reason why nobody knew that CFCs were bad for the atmosphere is because of the density of chlorine gas. The bond in a chlorine molecule can absorb a lot of UV radiation, resulting in it breaking far easier. However, due to the UV, this breaking produces two atoms of chlorine with unpaired electrons, called 'radicals'. These chlorine radicals catalyse the breakdown of ozone into oxygen gas, thus making holes in our ozone layer. The reason why nobody knew this prior to CFCs is because chlorine is a relatively heavy gas, thus preventing it from reaching the upper part of the atmosphere where there is more UV. CFCs on the other hand, containing lighter elements Carbon, Hydrogen, and Fluorine, are light enough to rise to the upper atmosphere, at which point the same UV breakdown occurs forming chlorine radicals, removing our ozone.

Someone should write a poem about this guy. I mean, what an interesting thing to have been "responsible" for so many horrible horrible things but without knowing it, not out of ignorance, but out of simply not being able to know

The amount of times Tom has to bite his lip in response to one of their answers is amazing! He just looks so done sometimes

"isn't a prototype plant a seed?" isn't a prototype plant a seed god dammit

"He didn't invent the iron lung, did he?" No, because we don't call it the "lead lung".

I've heard of "hoist by his own petard" before, but I don't think I know many cases of people who have been hoisted by their own hoist.

I'm 3 years late, but my dad works at, and I sorta attend, a college previously known as Beaver college

It's not an episode of Citation Needed without me going down a rabbit hole of obscure psychedelic British children's TV shows. This week: Tugs, 80s Thomas the Tank Engine, and Wizadora.

15:17 Propane is one of the remaining refrigerants that is surprisingly often found in fridges. The amount used is miniscule.

I think I just stumbled upon a goldmine, how come I’ve never seen this series before? Absurd Wikipedia articles are my favourite pastime.

This episode was probably one of the best Citation Needed ever, gotta say.

Now Chris, If Anglicanism didn't work, you'll need to go up to Lutheran Protestantism

The comments have glitched so I've got the comments section of the Thomas Midgley Jr. episode of Citation Needed on Brian David Gilbert's 'it's time to get good at darts'. I don't have a clue which comment section I'm writing this in. I feel like the universe is collapsing in on itself. Help.

why wouldn't you need an automatic french horn?

For 1979, 80 MPH in the US would have been really fast. I was thinking '80 MPH is extremely fast' when I heard that because in Australia, most trains travel at well below 80, although there are trains that go at 100 MPH here.

I litterally almost peed myself laughing during this episode, especially at the return of the goose on a train.

At 15.30 you can see Matt die a little on the inside when he remembers watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Far more entertaining than when QI covered the same subject. Thank you

If there isnt a drunken two hour live xmas special, with live curry, I am calling a referendum.

Industrial freezers used in frozen food manufacture & cold storage still use ammonia. Camping fridges are still fairly commonly run on propane.

Well this is trippy to see a bunch of British guys mention my hometown.

I live in beaver falls.

Holy crap, I had to go back and make sure I heard right when you said Beaver Falls, I live about 3 miles from there! Thank you Tech. Diff. for a new season, I look forward to these every week!

I love that this is back! Just binge watched the old stuff a few weeks ago!

I hadn't noticed it before, but the wordless cut to Matt after Chris mentions Indiana Jones is a wonderful piece of editing!

Did you know that Albert Einstein - ALBERT EINSTEIN! - invented a reasonably safe refridgeration system? That is used to this day for specialist refridgeration? The only problems are - It's a bit expensive to run, and it's MIND-NUMBINGLY NOISY! You can look it up on Wikipedia under Einstein's Refridgerator

How is it that _nobody_ has commented about Matt's reaction to the word "highbrow"?

This show is sponsored by cuneiform? Can you say foreshadowing?

"was this like tugs?" never expected that gem to pop up in an episode of citation needed hahaha

Thomas Midgley is the direct ancestor (maybe great grandad) of one of my best mates. He’s not overly proud.

Every time I watch these, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside, because I realise what I see on the screen is pretty much how my brain works. I am not he only mad goofball on this planet. ^^

Until recently i was working in a warehouse that used ammonia in the chilled side i believe

The talk about exploding fridges reminds of of the time when my friends fridge decided to launch it's door of it's hinges. The fridge was facing the kitchen window, and after the BOOM! the door of the fridge was in the garden (possibly the neighbor's garden) and the contents of said fridge were quite literally all over the place.

2:40 Congratulations, guys: you just invented the teasmade.

And now we have R600 for fridges - essentially propane as your refrigerant. The benefit - no CFCs released into the atmosphere (we are now permitted to vent the refrigerant instead of recovering it like with R-134a, R-12, etc). The cost - having a compressed hydrocarbon stuck inside your refrigerator at all times. (In reality it's a tiny amount - usually less than 50 grams, and would require a decently accurate stoichiometric mix with air to make it flammable anyway.)

I legitimately thought someone had a siren, not that it was Gary with the noises until the camera went to Gary and I clearly saw that it was his mouth and vocal cords making the siren sound

I don't know how you guys do it, but Citation Needed is still the thing I have laughed at most (by amount of laughter per unit time(laughter density, perhaps?)) in my whole life (at least, I don't recall anything coming close). Fantastic work, can't wait for next week! :)

I absolutely love this series... Makes me wish I could just hang out in the kitchen with you all.. Cheers!

I haven't laughed that hard in a good long while! Gary's Popemobile transition SFX utterly *broke* me

I've been watching Citation Needed for years, I've watched every episode about a hundred times, and the penny has only JUST dropped on the Beaver Falls joke. Wow. I love it.

The Wikipedia article now confirms that he was the son of Thomas Midgley Sr.

With as much as you drifted in this episode, I'm frankly surprised there was any bonus material. But I was in tears from laughing so much. God bless you all for bringing me this much joy.

I was so dubious when I clicked on this video. I now think this may become my favorite of your series. You guys are awesome.

Why does Garry hate the french horn so much?

Propane powered fridges still exist today. Not sure if you can find them in Europe, but they can often be found in RVs in the US that have a selector to run on electricity or propane

They actually use ammonia for the thermal management on the ISS, which did nearly cause problems during a spacewalk.

WAIT WHAT I ONLY JUST NOTICED MATT'S 'HIGH BROW' PUN NOW

One of the best needed citations I've seen in a while, and they're all good.

Thanks to you I've now watched the pilot episode of Supertrain.

YAAAY episode 2! Perked me up to see this today :)

7:16 that actually made me do a spit take with water going down probably to my lungs from extensive unexpected laughing.

Never thought the French horn would get any coverage on your shows- for better or for worse (I am a proud Grade 8-standard horn-player (Grade 6 in the USA)). Thanks, Gaz!

"Superdeathtrain!" No, Gary, that's Snowpiercer.

Let's all take a moment to recognize Clair Cameron Patterson (Jun 2, 1922 - Dec 5, 1995) as an absolute legend, a giga-chad among men, a true friend of humanity, an actual hero, a genius, and a madlad - not just to the US - but to the world. Thank you for your service, Dr. Patterson.

3:22 i hear double decker my mind immediately auto fills couch

I've got some friends from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.....

You laugh, but propane (R290), isobutane (R600a) and propylene (R1270) are currently used as "greener" alternatives to CFCs like R22 or R134a. A household fridge can have up to 150g of propane.

Fun fact: The German version of Love Boat (Das Traumschiff) is still running to this day, but they only do two or three episodes per year. One on New Year's Day, an optional one during the year, and one on Christmas.

I knew about this guy when I was 9 from one of the Horrible Science series of books. Still wouldn't have got most of the points later in the episode, but basically smashed the earlier part.

That was by far the funniest episode yet. Keep it up guys.

The phrase "what a great age Victoriana was" lives in my head rent-free.

lead is pretty bad for you when ingested, but organometallic compounds like tetraethyl-lead are far more dangerous because they tend to accumulate in the body. Another example of this was the Minamata river in Japan where methyl mercury was being dumped by a factory and accumulated in the fish and shellfish leading to local villagers getting horrible mercury poisoning.

I love this episode particularly!

There are actually propane powered fridges, which are normally used for camping

Just brilliant, I loved this episode

I love these because I learn stuff and laugh at the same time :)

possibly my fav series on the internet!

Gary should be in the British Edgar Wright remake of Police Academy.

15:15 A propane powered fridge is a real thing. Absorption refrigerators use a heat source to provide the energy for the cooling process and don't require any moving parts. They are commonly used in RVs with a propane burner.

The Germans didn't bother with changing the formula of Love Boat -> Traumschiff (Dream-Boat). It runs to this day (not an episode per week, its some made for TV movies per year).

I could watch this every. single. day. Make it happen, guys.

This was bugging me it was not Dayton Research Laboratories it was Dayton Engineering Laboratory Company (DELCO). DELCO was founded by Charles F. Kettering and Edward Deeds. Both of which worked at the National Cash Register Company (NCR). DELCO also invented the electric self starter, electric lighting for the automobile and many other inventions

May I suggest a different slogan? "Lead's in the lead!"