Google Doodle celebrates Nobel Prize winner Dr Mario Molina’s 80th birthday

Molina was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was one of the researchers who exposed how chemicals deplete Earth’s ozone shield, which is vital to protecting humans, plants, and wildlife from harmful ultraviolet light.

He was one of the first to discover that chlorofluorocarbons (a chemical found in air conditioners, aerosol sprays, and more) were breaking down the ozone and causing ultraviolet radiation to reach Earth’s surface. He and his co-researchers published their findings in the Nature journal, which later won them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, as stated by Google Doodle.

Here’s all you need to know about Mario Molina:

Dr. Molina was born on 19 March 1943 in Mexico City. 

Since childhood, Molino was so passionate about science that he turned his bathroom into a makeshift laboratory. 

Nothing could compare to the joy of watching tiny organisms glide across his toy microscope, as stated by Google Doodle. 

Dr. Molina did his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and an advanced degree from the University of Freiburg in Germany. 

After completing his education, he moved to the US to conduct postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In the early 1970s, he began researching how synthetic chemicals impact Earth’s atmosphere. 

His ground breaking research on the Ozone layer became the foundation of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty that successfully banned the production of nearly 100 ozone-depleting chemicals. 

This international alliance is considered one of the most impactful environmental treaties ever made — a precedent that shows governments can work together effectively to tackle climate change.

On October 7, 2020, at the age of 77, Dr Molina died of a heart attack in Mexico.

The Mario Molina Center, a leading research institute in Mexico, carries on his work to create a more sustainable world.