F. Sherwood Rowland

F. Sherwood Rowland was an American chemist who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing that chlorofluorocarbons can deplete stratospheric ozone.

Mario J. Molina: A Mexican-American chemist who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research on ozone depletion by chlorofluorocarbons. Molina and Rowland jointly developed the evidence that CFCs destroy stratospheric ozone.
Chlorofluorocarbon: A synthetic compound containing carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, once widely used in refrigeration and aerosol products. Rowland and Molina identified these persistent chemicals as the source of ozone-destroying chlorine.
CFC-11: A chlorofluorocarbon, trichlorofluoromethane, formerly used as a refrigerant and aerosol propellant. Rowland and Molina used CFC-11 to trace how long-lived CFCs could reach the stratosphere.
Montreal Protocol: A 1987 international treaty that phases out production and use of ozone-depleting substances. The treaty translated evidence about CFC-driven ozone depletion into coordinated global controls.
Ozone–oxygen cycle: A set of stratospheric reactions in which oxygen molecules form ozone and ozone breaks back into oxygen. Understanding natural ozone chemistry let researchers identify chlorine-catalyzed disruption.
Paul J. Crutzen: A Dutch atmospheric chemist who showed how nitrogen oxides affect stratospheric ozone and shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Crutzen’s complementary ozone research earned him the same Nobel Prize as Rowland and Molina.
Ozone depletion: The thinning of ozone in the stratosphere through chemical reactions that destroy ozone molecules faster than they form. Rowland’s research helped explain the chemical cause of human-driven stratospheric ozone loss.
CFC-12: A chlorofluorocarbon, dichlorodifluoromethane, formerly used widely as a refrigerant. Its atmospheric persistence exemplified the broader CFC problem Rowland helped identify.
Antarctic ozone hole: A seasonal, severe thinning of stratospheric ozone over Antarctica, first reported in 1985. Its discovery gave dramatic observational confirmation of the ozone problem Rowland’s work had predicted.
Chlorine monoxide: A reactive molecule formed when chlorine atoms react with ozone in the stratosphere. Measurements of this molecule helped connect chlorine chemistry to Antarctic ozone loss.

Linked from 8 pages