| Activity | Education:
University of Stockholm MSc (1963), PhD in meteorology (1968), DSc (1973)
Career:
Bridge Construction Bureau of the City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1954-1958); Military Services, The Netherlands (1956-1958); Computer Programmer later research associate and research professor, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Sweden (1959-1974); Post-doctoral fellow of the European Space Research Organization, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford (1969-1971); Research Scientist in the Upper Atmosphere Project (1974-1977), Senior Scientist and Director of the Air Quality Division (1977-1980), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado State University, United States of America; Consultant, Aeronomy Laboratory, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, Colorado, USA (1974-1977); Adjunct professor, Atmospheric Sciences Department, Colorado State University, USA (1976-1981); Director, Atmospheric Chemistry Division, Max Planck Institute, Mainz, Germany (1980-2000); Executive Director, Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, West Germany (1983-1985); Professor (part-time), Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, USA (1987-1991); Professor (part-time), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, LaJolla, USA (1992-2008); Honorary Professor at the University of Mainz, Germany (1993-2021)
Memberships:
American Geophysical Union (1986); American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1986); The Royal Netherlands Academy of Science (1990); Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1992); Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering (1992); Leopoldina (1992); U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1994)
Medals and prizes:
Rolex-Discover Scientist of the Year 1984; Tyler Prize for Environment 1989; Volvo Environmental Prize 1991; Max-Planck-Forschungspreis (with Dr. M. Molina, U.S.A.) (1994); Nobel Prize for Chemistry (with M Molina and S Rowland) 1995 |
| OtherInfo | Paul Crutzen was a Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist who discovered that nitrogen oxides quicken the breakdown of the Earth’s ozone layer. Paul’s explanation of atmospheric chemical reactions have had an enormous impact on global awareness of environmental pollution and climate change.
Paul’s research showed that ground-level emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) affect levels of nitric oxide (NO) in the stratosphere — a region of our atmosphere that begins at about 10 kilometres above the surface of the Earth. His results made clear the links between human activity, such as the use of fertilizers, and the increasing hole in the ozone layer. Paul also proposed a method to reverse the effects of global warming by releasing particles of sulfur into the upper atmosphere, to reflect sunlight and heat back into space.
Paul shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland for their work on the chemistry of ozone. In 1982, he co-wrote The atmosphere after a nuclear war: Twilight at noon, a paper that introduced the concept of the ‘nuclear winter’.
Professor Paul Crutzen ForMemRS died on 28 January 2021. |
| Source | Sources:
Royal Society profile (https://royalsociety.org/people/paul-crutzen-11287/, accessed 2 February 2021)
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Crutzen, accessed 2 February 2021)
'Paul J Crutzen Curriculum Vitae', NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2021 (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1995/crutzen/cv/, accessed 2 February 2021)
Benner, Susan (29 Jan 2021) 'Max Planck Institute for Chemistry mourns the loss of Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen' in IDW (obituary, https://idw-online.de/de/news762123, accessed 2 February 2021)
Monroe, Robert (29 Jann 2021) ''Paul Crutzen: 1933-2021', Scripps Institution of Oceanography (obituary, https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/paul-crutzen-1933-2021, accessed 2 February 2021) |