Johnston, Harold

Johnston, Harold. A Bridge Not Attacked Chemical Warfare Civilian Research during World War II. London World Scientific, 2003. 

The concentration of ozone in the stratosphere is lower than predicted from reactions 1-4. This is due to the presence of trace amounts of some reactive species known as free radicals. These species have an odd number of electrons and they can speed up reaction 4 by means of catalytic chain reactions. Nitrogen oxides, NO and NO2, which are naturally present in the stratosphere at levels of a few parts per billion (ppb), are the most important catalysts in this respect. The reactions, first suggested by Paul Crutzen (2) and by Harold Johnston (3) in the early 1970 s, are as follows ... 

Some of this section is based on Harold Johnston, Autobiographical Sketch, Journal of Physical Chemistry 1388-1390 (2001). 

I thought about that. I looked around the room at my fellow students. Some of them would look pretty funny in uniform. But what about me What could I do (Much of this paragraph is based on and some is directly quoted from Harold Johnston, Journal of Physical Chemistry A105, 1388-1390 (2001)). 

S A study of turbulent diffusion of gas clouds over several terrains, Report OSRD No. 6185, 84 pages, by Harold Johnston, Robert Merrill, and Robert Mills. 1945. Part I. An Empirical Approach to the Effect of Turbulent Diffusion on Gas Clouds over Several Terrains, pages 1-23. Part II. A Critical Examination of the British Statistical Diffusion Theories, pages 24-46. 

Figure 8.5. Mary Ella Stay and Harold Johnston, December 29, 1948.

Figure 8.6. 50 years later. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Johnston, December 1998. 

My discovery might not have had its proper impact had it not been for Professor Harold Johnston s work at the University of California at Berkeley. He, independently of me, called attention to the fact that nitrogen oxides would be added to the stratosphere in great amounts by supersonic aircraft. Harold didn t know about my paper, but others pointed it out to him and he recognized immediately that somebody had already done it. We ve been extremely good colleagues ever since. 

The young Crutzen published this vital study in 1970. At this time Harold Johnston... 

In the late 1960s, University of California physical chemist Harold S. Johnston (1920-) and Dutch atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen (1933-) independently proposed that emissions of nitrogen oxides from supersonic transport aircraft (SST) flying through the stratosphere would harm the stratosphere s protective layer of ozone. 

Harold Johnston might have shared the Nobel Prize with Crutzen, Rowland, and Molina were it not for the restriction that no more than three people can share a Nobel Prize. Also, Johnston was ineligible for his own prize later because another restriction is that a Nobel Prize cannot be given twice for the same accomplishment. 

Returning to Berkeley in the early 1970s, Brian joined the research group in atmospheric chemistry led by Professor Harold S. Johnston. Both undergraduate and graduate studies introduced him to many of the key scientists who were responsible for major discoveries in the sciences during the second half of the twentieth century. His scientific interests evolved to encompass chemical kinetics, environmental science, computational chemistry, and the history and philosophy of science. 

HAROLD S. JOHNSTON, Department of Chemistry, University of California... 

---