The unlikely, eccentric inventor turning inedible plant life into fuel

You never know who’s gonna be the one with the big idea. History has shown it’s not necessarily the person with the most impressive credentials.

A breakthrough can come from the least expected, perhaps like an 81-year-old eccentric from Massachusetts who toiled in isolation with no financial support for more than a decade.

His focus? A challenge that has stumped scientists for many years – how to transform inedible plant life into environmentally friendly transportation fuels in a clean and cost-effective way.

This unlikely inventor calls himself messianic, as in the messiah. And likes to say, matter-of-factly, that he is “saving the world.”

Lesley Stahl: And that’s what you think?

Marshall Medoff: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: You think, “I’m saving the world.”

Marshall Medoff: I don’t think. I don’t think, I know that.

Who says things like that? Marshall Medoff does. He’s a man on a mission who decided one day that he was going stop global warming.

Read the article at 60 Minutes: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marshall-medoff-the-unlikely-eccentric-inventor-turning-inedible-plant-life-into-fuel-60-minutes