You've got to be pretty old to remember when new cars didn't have catalytic converters. Whether you know it or not, these now-ubiquitous devices occupy a frontal position in the assault against dirty car emissions. But being green wasn't popular in the early 1970s. The automotive enthusiast community saw government emissions regulations and catalytic converters as the enemy of performance and horsepower.
My, how things have changed.
Today, the exhaust system of nearly every car, SUV, and light truck utilizes a catalytic converter to transform toxic NOx (nitrous oxides) and hydrocarbons into less harmful gases. According to industry experts, today's cleanest-running cars and trucks operate essentially emissions-free once the engine has been started. The groundwork for such green performance started decades ago with a group of General Motors engineers. Although the concept of the catalyst existed prior to 1973, getting them to work in the harsh automotive environment was a genuine breakthrough.
The time for proper recognition of the catalytic converter was overdue, at least according to GlobalSpec, which is a specialized search engine, information resource, and e-publishing company for the engineering, industrial, and technical communities.
On October 21, 2008, GlobalSpec officially recognized the GM team behind the development of the production-ready catalytic converter that debuted in 1975. "GlobalSpec is honored to recognize these engineers and scientists from General Motors and from its AC Spark Plug Division, whose seemingly 'everyday' work ultimately resulted in significant health and economic benefits to hundreds of millions of people throughout the United States and around the globe," said GlobalSpec Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Killeen. "As a team, this group conceived, designed, led the assembly, created and tested the world's first production-ready automotive catalytic converter emissions control system. Their pioneering work paved the way for unleaded fuels becoming viable and for improved drivability and greatly reduced emissions. We thank and salute them for their efforts."
GlobalSpec presented the award to a team of retirees from General Motors. Richard Klimisch, Ph.D., General Motors' first catalyst expert, accepted the award on behalf of the team. Alan Taub, executive director, GM Research & Development, and Robert Stempel, past GM chairman, also addressed attendees.
The GlobalSpec "Great Moments in Engineering" award is presented annually to a person or group whose singular moment of engineering ingenuity produced a significant turning point for the application of technology and the resulting benefits to people, science, and industry. The inaugural 2005 award was presented to the NASA engineers responsible for saving the lives of crew members during the harrowing April 1970 flight of Apollo 13. In 2006, members of the Jason Jr. engineering team received the award in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the first video survey of R.M.S. Titanic. Last year, GlobalSpec saluted the Motorola engineering team responsible for building the DynaTAC, the world's first cellular telephone.