Crutzen, Paul Jozef,
1933–2021, Dutch atmospheric chemist, grad. Univ. of Stockholm (Ph.D.
1968, D.Sc. 1973). After working (1977–80) for the National Center
for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo., and teaching (1976–81) at
Colorado State Univ., he joined (1980) the faculty at the
Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany, where he has been a
professor emeritus since 2000. He, Mario Molina, and Sherwood Rowland shared the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1995 for their contributions to the understanding of
atmospheric chemistry, in particular the formation and decomposition of
ozone in the ozone layer. Crutzen showed that nitrogen oxides resulting from
the decay of nitrous oxide react catalytically with atmospheric ozone
(O3) to produce oxygen (O2). In 2000, Dr. Crutzen
introduced the term “Anthropocene” as a suggested name for the
current geological period, to indicate that we live in a time when the
planet’s state is deeply influenced by human action.
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