Molina , Mario José

Molina , Mario José
(1943–) Mexican physical chemist
Molina, the son of a diplomat, studied chemical engineering at the University of Mexico. After further study in Europe at the University of Freiburg and at the Sorbonne, Molina moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he gained his PhD in 1972. He worked initially as a postdoctoral student at the Irvine campus of the University of California with F. S. Rowland. Following a spell at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he moved to MIT in 1989 as professor of environmental sciences.
Rowland had become interested in the fate of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used as the propellant in most aerosol cans, and asked his new colleague if he would be interested in working out what happened to them as they rose into the stratosphere. It would be, Molina later confessed, “a nice, interesting, academic exercise.”
He quickly worked out that as CFCs were stable they would eventually accumulate in the upper atmosphere. There, he argued, they would be broken up by ultraviolet light and chlorine atoms would be released. Rowland suggested that Molina should analyze how free chlorine atoms would behave. Molina suspected that a chain reaction would be produced, reducing the amount of ozone in the upper atmosphere. Despite this, Molina still thought the effect would be negligible. It was only when he discovered that the amount of CFCs released each year was about 1 million tonnes that he realized that much of the ozone layer could be destroyed. Molina published his results in a joint paper with Rowland in 1974. The National Academy of Sciences issued a report in 1976 confirming the work of Molina and Rowland and in 1978 CFCs used in aerosols were banned in the United States. In 1984 Joe Farman detected a 40% ozone loss over Antarctica.
For his work on CFCs and the ozone layer Molina shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry with Rowland and Paul Crutzen, thus becoming the first Mexican to receive a Nobel Prize for science.

Scientists. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mario José Molina — Mario J. Molina (links) und Luis E. Miramontes Mario José Molina (* 19. März 1943 in Mexiko Stadt) ist ein mexikanischer Chemiker. Er erhielt 1995 zusammen mit den Chemikern Frank Sherwood Rowland und Paul Crutzen den Nobelpreis in Chemie für die …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Molina, Mario — ▪ American chemist in full  Mario José Molina   born March 19, 1943, Mexico City, Mex.    Mexican born American chemist who was jointly awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, along with chemists F. Sherwood Rowland (Rowland, F. Sherwood) and …   Universalium

  • Molina — Mario José …   Scientists

  • Chemienobelpreis 1995: Paul Josef Crutzen — Mario José Molina — Frank Sherwood Rowland —   Der Niederländer Crutzen, der Mexikaner Molina und der Amerikaner Rowland erhielten gemeinsam den Nobelpreis für »ihre Arbeiten zur Chemie der Atmosphäre, insbesondere über Bildung und Abbau von Ozon«.    Biografien   Paul Joseph Crutzen, *… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Mario J. Molina — Mario José Molina (* 19. März 1943 in Mexiko Stadt) ist ein mexikanischer Chemiker. Er erhielt 1995 zusammen mit den Chemikern Frank Sherwood Rowland und Paul Crutzen den Nobelpreis für Chemie für die Erforschung der Zerstörung der …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mario J. Molina — Mario Molina Mario Molina at a conference on climate change Born March 19, 1943 …   Wikipedia

  • Mario J. Molina — Mario Molina Fotografía de Mario Molina en el Senado de México en 2008 …   Wikipedia Español

  • José Cecilio del Valle — José Cecilio del Valle …   Wikipedia Español

  • Molina — puede referirse a: Contenido 1 Geografía 2 Personas apellidadas Molina 2.1 Botánicos 3 Véase también …   Wikipedia Español

  • Mario Lacruz — Muntadas (Barcelona, 13 de julio de 1929 Barcelona,13 de mayo de 2000) fue un editor literario y novelista español, aunque publicó sólo una pequeña parte de su producción. Tras su muerte, un armario cuyo acceso había declarado prohibido, reveló… …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”