Anti-heroes

[Pachyderm]

I was wondering who you erudite and surprising lot would consider as anti-heroes?

There is, of course, the usual suspects. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Cap'n Cronan etc., but what about the unsung anti-heroes? The folks who quietly got on with whatever nefarious deeds they should be infamous for?

I'll start with a deadly duo, Thomas Midgely Jr. and Charles Kettering. Midgely was a mechanical engineer, but turned his hand to chemistry. And, believe me, the world would have been better off if he hadn't. Kettering was a research bod from day 1.

Not content with discovering that tetra-ethyl lead makes an effective anti-knock" agent when added to petrol (cheers, Tom), he went on to
co-discover (with Kettering) dichlorodifluoromethane. Also known as Freon. Yup, leaded petrol and CFC's. Quality legacy.

One historian remarked that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth history."

Over to you...

[Swatopluk]

What about the guy* that managed to reliably kindle fire for the first time? Who did sposor his dangerous research?

*I assume it was a male specimen

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

What about the guy* that managed to reliably kindle fire for the first time? Who did sposor his dangerous research?

*I assume it was a male specimen

Nevermind THAT.

I want to know who first invented beer.   For it started us down the road to "civilization" and look what it's got us since:  light beer.

[Pachyderm]

In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl. A 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread.


The Iraqis invented beer. It's not about oil, after all.

[Griffin NoName]

I nominate the Large Cauldron Collider Thingy in Cern as an anti-hero.

[beagle]

Who invented telesales? And Ant and Dec?

[Swatopluk]

To get serious again, St.Augustine is not actually unsung but the evil he infested the occidental mind with lingers on*.
Just a few examples:
1. Unbaptized? You go to hell, even if you were not yet born at time of death => no abortion; in case of birth complications the baptism of the child is more important than its life or that of its mother; of course no stem cell research.
This theology even banished those to hell that had no chance of ever getting baptized, and the pre-Christian people burned in hell until Christ came down after his crucifixion and led them out.
2. Contraception? No way! I failed with that, so YOU are not even allowed to try
3. Roma locuta, causa finita => the pope is always right

There are/were other saints on a mission from Hell too, teaching the inferiority of women, laying the seeds of race antisemitism, allowing the breach of all commandements when infidels are the victim etc.
Some even led lynch mobs personally.

Beware us God from holy men
their evil knows no boundaries

*admittedly some blame lies with his mother, St.Monica
</rant>