Now Online: The AD-X2 Controversy

In the 1950s, scientific integrity was put into question by a packet of salt. …

Today, NIST released to the public The AD-X2 Controversy documentary, which highlights a moment in history when scientific integrity came under attack. It all began in the 1940s, when an entrepreneur began selling AD-X2 — a chemical additive that he claimed would extend the life of car batteries. But at the National Bureau of Standards, the federal agency now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, scientists had evidence showing that the additive was ineffective. Then the showdown began.

What came next is a story of scientific tests, government hearings, firings, rehirings, a media firestorm and much, much more … all, as actor Sean Astin — whose grandfather, the scientist Allen V. Astin, led the agency at the time — put it, “over batteries?”

This is the story of an agency fighting to defend the principle of scientific integrity and of a public servant standing up to do what is right while under attack in politics and the news media.

Check out the documentary on YouTube and go behind the scenes on the NIST website.