Farman, Joseph

Farman, Joseph C. Gardiner, Brian G. and Shanklin, J. D. (1985). Large Losses of Total Ozone in Antarctica Reveal Seasonal C1Q/NO, Interaction. Nature 315 207-210. 

In the mid-1970s F. Sherwood Rowland and M. Molina showed evidence that Freons might drift freely and remain unaffected for up to 100 years, eventually move to the ozone layer, produce free chlorine atoms, and possibly destroy ozone (Molina and Rowland, 1974, pp. 810-812). They thus laid the foundation for a theory of ozone depletion and, together with Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute, received the obel Prize for chemistry in 1995. In 1985 Joseph C. Farman, et al. published an article demonstrating the large volume of diminished ozone over Antarctica (Farman, Gardiner, and Shanklin, 1985, pp. 207-210). 

Shortly thereafter, the effect on stratospheric ozone of chlorine released from human-made (anthropogenic) chlorofluorocarbons was predicted by Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland. For their pioneering studies of atmospheric ozone chemistry, Crutzen, Molina, and Rowland were awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It was not until 1985, with the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole by a team led by the British scientist Joseph Farman, that definitive evidence of the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer emerged. 

Within three months of his arrival at Irvine, Molina and Rowland had developed the rudiments of their CFC-ozone depletion theory. Both became aware that Crutzen s earlier work on the influence of nitrogen oxides on ozone levels provided a model for how chlorine atoms could influence the concentration of ozone as well. By 1985, Molina, working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, was able to show that the chlorine activation reactions took place effectively in the presence of ice crystals in the polar stratosphere and, thus, account for the seasonal fluctuation of the ozone discovered earlier by Joseph Farman and his coworkers. Molina has stated that he chose the initial research project with Rowland simply out of scientific curiosity, never dreaming of the impact then-work would have on the world s environment. You may read about their exploits, and those of other Nobel laureates, at http //www.nobel.se/ chemistry/laureates/. 

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