Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month - Mario Molina, first Mexican recipient of Noble Prize in Chemistry

Mario Molina, born in Mexico City, Mexico, is the first Mexican-born winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was the co-recipient in 1995 with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland for their discovery of the role of CFCs in ozone depletion.  Rowland and Molina published their discovery that chlorine atoms contribute to the destruction of ozone in Nature June 28, 1974.  They announced their findings to policy makers and news outlets to be sure people were aware.

Molina received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama on August 8, 2013.

President Obama said, "Mario Molina is a visionary chemist and environmental scientist. Born in Mexico, Dr. Molina came to America to pursue his graduate degree. He later earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how chlorofluorocarbons deplete the ozone layer. Dr. Molina is a professor at the University of California, San Diego; Director of the Mario Molina Center for Energy and Environment; and a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology."