Paul J. Crutzen

If you could have one wish fulfilled today about the environment, what would it be  

That we treat the environment very carefully, that we don t overload it. In fact, we re busily doing the latter. The Kyoto Conference is closing tomorrow. It seems that mainly the economic disadvantages of saving the environment are being considered there. 

The first decisive steps should be taken by the industrialized nations, but the developing countries have an important task too. They should not be repeating the mistakes of the developed countries, and they should be helped to avoid them. This help should be in the form of clean energy and technology transfer for recycling and other processes. Eventually they should be able to take care of their own environment. They should act to diminish deforestation. 

Would you care to tell us about your research leading to the discovery of the importance of nitrogen oxides in the depletion of the ozone layer  

It was my first two papers. In 1970, I recognized that the ozone layer was controlled, to a large extent, by the catalytic actions of nitrogen oxides, NOx, that is, NO and NO2. This was something nobody had considered before in the stratosphere. 

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In the early 1970s, Mario Molina (b. 1943) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, F. Sherwood Rowland (b. 1927) of the University of California, Irvine, and Paul J. Crutzen (b. 1933) of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, all shown in Figure 17.16, recognized the potential threat to stratospheric ozone posed by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Because CFCs are inert gases, they were once commonly used in air conditioners and aerosol propellants. Two of the most frequently used CFCs are shown in Figure 17.17. 

In 1995, Paul J. Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, and F. Sherwood Rowland received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for showing that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used as aerosol propellants and air-conditioning coolants, were disrupting this sequence by catalyzing the breakdown reaction. CFCs are unreactive in the lower atmosphere, but slowly rise to the stratosphere, where UV radiation cleaves them ... 

Paul J. Crutzen (1933- ), Netherlands, Mario J. Molina (1943- ), United States, and F. Sherwood Rowland (1927- ), United States. For their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. ... 

Paul J. Crutzen (the Netherlands), Mario J. Molina (Mexico / United States), and F. Sherwood Rowland (United States) for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. Each of these researchers made important contributions toward understanding how atmospheric ozone is depleted through atmospheric reactions. Importantly, each demonstrated ways in which pollution from humans was responsible for depleting the ozone layer, and they did this by learning how atmospheric pollutants caused the breakdown of ozone. This information will hopefully continue to help us protect the ozone layer and the stability of the Earth s climate. 

Three chemists, Paul J. Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, and F Sherwood Rowland (Figure 10.3), formulated the theory of the ozone hole and shared the Nobel Prize... 

FIGURE 10.3 The 1995 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry for their work on the ozone hole. Shown from left to right are Paul J. Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, and F. Sherwood Rowland. The photographs were obtained from the following sources http //commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File Paul Crutzen.jpg uselang = de, http //commons.wikimedia.0rg/wiki/File Mario Molina lc389 8387.jpg, and http //commons.wikimedia.0rg/wiki/File F. Sherwood Rowland.jpg. 

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. 

Paul J. Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, F. Sherwood Rowland 1938 Richard Kuhn... 

Graedel, Thomas E. and Paul J. Crutzen, Atmosphere, Climate, and Change, W.H. Freeman, New York, 1995. 

Rainer Vogt, Paul J. Crutzen and Rolf Sander... 

P.J. Cmtzen and H.G. Brauch (eds.), Paul J. Crutzen A Pioneer on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change in the Anthropocene,... 

Paul J. Crutzen as a pupil in the elementary school in Amsterdam in 1940. Source Ptasonal photo collection... 

In 1973 Paul J. Crutzen obtained his D.Sc. (Filosofie Doctor) in Stockholm, Sweden. This photo shows him at his exam with Prof. Richard P. Wayne and Sir John Theodore Houghton. Courtesy of R.P. Wayne... 

Paul J. Crutzen with an air sampling canister in Chicago inl989. The photo was taken by Jos Lelieveld... 

Paul J. Crutzen in Brazil in 1978. Taking soil samples. The photo was taken by his colleague... 

Paul J. Crutzen after the announcement of the Nobel Prize award. Reception organized by employees at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz October 1995. Photo by Alfred Klemm (MPIC)... 

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