This iteration of Cosmos has done a lot of things very well, and one of the most notable of those things is shining the spotlight on scientists who most people haven't heard of. Tonight's episode was the most prominent example of this, as it was entirely devoted to the story of Clair Patterson and his efforts to discover the true age of the Earth.
To be honest, if I were to describe this episode to someone, it really wouldn't sound very interesting. After all, the main star of the show, besides Patterson, is lead. Without the decay of uranium into lead, it would have been impossible to discover the age of the Earth. Really, this episode was more about the importance of pursuing the truth, especially in the presence of special interests.
When working to find the age of the Earth, Patterson discovered that most of the samples he was working with had a much higher concentration of lead than they should. After years of travelling the world, collecting samples from basically everywhere, he discovered that the high concentration of lead was a recent phenomenon. More specifically, he figured out that leaded gasoline was poisoning the population and was incredibly dangerous. It took 20 years, but leaded gasoline was eventually banned, despite the immense power and influence of the petroleum industry. The lesson here is that eventually, no matter how powerful the opponent, science and truth will win out in the end. And that is good news.
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