Albert Einstein World Award of Science 1994
Field of Research: Environmental Chemistry
Place of Ceremony:
19 Sep 1994, Chambery, France
Hosting Institution: CODATA / ICSU / UNESCO
Chambery, France, September 1994. The World Cultural Council presented the 1994 Albert Einstein World Award of Science to Prof. E Sherwood Rowland, Donald Bren Professor of Chemistry of the University of California, Irvine, USA. The Official Awarding Ceremony took place during the 14th International Conference on Environmental and Computer Science of CODATA in Chambéry. France. which acted as host for 1994.
Prof. Rowland’s discovery that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) deplete stratospheric ozone presented hard evidence that chemical pollutants in the atmosphere can induce changes in the environment on a global scale. His discovery came about through basic research: in his initial studies, he established that the major atmospheric destruction process for molecules such as Fluorocarbon-11 and Fluorocarbon-12 is photolytic decomposition in the high stratosphere by solar ultraviolet radiation.
Prof. Rowland was born in Delaware. Ohio. USA. in 1927. He received the degree of M.S. in 1951 from the University of Chicago. A member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and fellow and past-President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he has actively participated on numerous national and international panels on the global environment. He has also received medals, fellowships, awards and prizes from different organizations of the world.
His professional life is plenty of success and accomplishments he has wrote more than 300 scientific publications in the areas of atmospheric chemistry radiochemistry and chemical kinetics.
One year after he received the Albert Einstein World Award of Science; he shared with Prof. Paul Crutzen and Prof. Mario Molina the Nobel Prize of Chemistry “for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone”.
