U.S. National Institutes of Health

On a mountain in a corner of Yosemite National Park, Clair Patterson measures the accumulation of lead from gasoline exhausts from neighboring cities, Engineering and Science Magazine, February-March 1975

Courtesy The Archives, California Institute of Technology

In the 1960s and 1970s, geochemist Clair Patterson gathered evidence that proved the pervasiveness of lead contamination. Patterson’s rigorous data collection and advocacy led to life-saving reductions in environmental lead.

Top