I was reading a post about unique things you wouldn’t want, such as a nasty medical condition named after you.

That got me thinking.

What is the most unique thing.

Being the tallest person doesn’t count, because there is always a tallest person…

I thought maybe units of measure, there are not really that many units named after people. Newton, Pascal, ampere etc… Turns out there are quite a few.

Next thought was atomic elements, there are 19 named after 20 people. That is fairly unique 20 people out of the ~110 billion to have ever lived, have an element named after them.

    • very_well_lost@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      1 month ago

      Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley “had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth’s history”

      Ouch.

      • Subtracty@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 month ago

        I have often thought about who the person with the worst carbon footprint would be if you accounted for factors like inventions/policies/war etc. This answers my question, unless there are even worse contributors.

        • very_well_lost@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          I don’t think Midgley really did anything to increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere — just the amount of lead and CFCs.

          • Subtracty@lemmy.world
            2·
            1 month ago

            I was wrong to say carbon footprint, I suppose I’m curious about who has contributed the most to polluting the environment and damaging our climate.