Air Pollution Fighter
He started his air pollution research in 1948, when Southern California residents suffered stinging eyes and respiratory irritation from the smog. Although his original concern started from the sickness of his plants, he had received many requests from government agencies to investigate air pollution. He identified unburned hydrocarbons, ozone, and nitrogen oxides from automobile exhaust and industrial fuel combustion as primary precursors to smog, and he developed a test to measure the intensity of the smog. His research led the automobile industry to install positive crankcase ventilation, the first vehicle emissions control system, in 1961. In 1968 he was appointed the first Chairman of the California Air Resources Board by Ronald Reagan, California's Governor at the time. Reagan fired him in 1974 for refusing to weaken pollution control efforts.
Read more about this topic: Arie Jan Haagen-Smit
Famous quotes containing the words air, pollution and/or fighter:
“As far as I can see, this autumn haze
That spreading in the evening air both ways
Makes the new moon look anything but new
And pours the elm-tree meadow full of blue,
Is all the smoke from one poor house alone....”
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“A pleasant smell of frying sausages
Attacks the sense, along with an old, mostly invisible
Photograph of what seems to be girls lounging around
An old fighter bomber, circa 1942 vintage.”
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