Mario Molina: The Nobel Prize Winner Who Helped Save the Ozone Layer
Mario Molina was a renowned Mexican chemist who was instrumental in discovering the threat posed by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to the Earth's ozone layer. He was born on March 19, 1943, in Mexico City, and passed away on October 7, 2020, leaving behind a legacy of scientific excellence and environmental advocacy. Molina's groundbreaking research in the 1970s, conducted in collaboration with Sherwood Rowland, demonstrated how CFCs, commonly used in refrigerants and aerosols, were damaging the ozone layer, which protects life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This discovery led to the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, an international agreement that phased out the production of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances. For his contributions to the field of atmospheric chemistry, Molina was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995, making him the first Mexican citizen to receive this honor. He used his platform as a Nobel laureate to advocate ...