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Mario J. Molina
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Mario Molina

Mario Molina
Born
March 19, 1943 (age 69)
Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality
Mexico, U.S.
Fields
Chemistry
Institutions
UC San Diego, UC Irvine, JPL atCaltech, and MIT
Alma mater
National Autonomous University of Mexico, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley
Doctoral advisor
George C. Pimentel [1]
Known for
Researched the threat of CFCs to the ozone layer in thestratosphere.
Notable awards
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1983), NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (1989),[2]Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1995),UN Environment Programme Sasakawa Environment Prize(1999), The 9th Annual Heinz Award in the Environment(2003),[3] The Volvo Environment Prize (2004).[4]
Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (born March 19, 1943 in Mexico City) is aMexican chemist and one of the most prominent precursors to the discovering of theAntarctic ozone hole. He was a co-recipient (along with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland) of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in elucidating the threat to the Earth's ozonelayer of chlorofluorocarbon gases (or CFCs), becoming the first Mexican-born citizen to ever receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[5]
Contents
  [hide] 
1 Biography
2 His discovery
3 Honors
4 References
5 External links
[edit]Biography
Molina is the son of Roberto Molina Pasquel, a lawyer and diplomat who went on to serve as chief Ambassador to Ethiopia, Australia and the Philippines in1923,[1] and Leonor Henríquez de Molina. As a child he converted a bathroom into his own little laboratory, using toy microscopes and chemistry sets. He also looked up to his aunt Esther Molina, who was a chemist, and who helped him with his experiments.[6]
After completing his basic studies in Mexico City and Switzerland[1] he earned a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering at the NationalAutonomous University of Mexico in 1965, a postgraduate degree from the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg,West Germany, in 1967 and a doctoral degree in Chemistry from University of California, Berkeley in 1972.
In 1974, as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Irvine, he and Rowland co-authored a paper in the journal Nature highlighting the threat of CFCs to the ozone layer in the stratosphere.[7]At thetime, CFCs were widely used as chemical propellants and refrigerants. Initial indifference from the academic community prompted the pair to hold a press conference at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlantic City in September 1974, in which they called for a complete ban on further releases of CFCs into the atmosphere. Skepticism from scientists and commercial manufacturerspersisted, however, and a consensus on the need for action only began to emerge in 1976 with the publication of a review of the science by the National Academy of Sciences. This led to moves towards the worldwide elimination of CFCs from aerosol cans and refrigerators, and it is for this work that Molina later shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Between 1974 and 2004 he variously held research andteaching posts at UC Irvine, theJet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he held a joint appointment in the Department of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Chemistry. On July 1, 2004 Molina joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California, San Diego and the Center for Atmospheric Sciencesat theScripps Institution of Oceanography.
Molina is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and The National College of Mexico. He serves on the boards of several environmental organizations and also sits on a number of scientific committees including the U.S. President's Committee of Advisors in Science and Technology, the...