Fast Cars

Three scientists from Corning were awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Bush for their air pollution device. The only thing better than a fast car is a clean fast car.

Their creation — a ceramic honeycomb that oxidizes auto emissions — has kept an estimated 3 billion tons of toxic pollutants out of the atmosphere over the last 30 years.

“People don’t realize how bad it was when millions of cars were spewing out deadly fumes,” said retired engineer Rodney Bagley. “Many of the cities were almost unbreathable” in the 1960s.

The soda can-sized device developed by Bagley, Irwin Lachman and Ronald Lewis at Corning Inc. in 1972 and 1973 made air pollution control practical for the first time. Its paper-thin walls were coated with precious-metal catalysts that turned lung-choking gases streaming through automotive exhausts systems into water vapor, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

President Bush awarded each of the men a National Medal of Technology during a ceremony Monday at the White House.

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