On March 19th 1943, Mario J Molina was born in Mexico City where he went to both primary and high school. Even before he began his formal education as a chemist, he was always fascinated by science. He found himself converting a bathroom into a laboratory and with the help of his Aunt Esther, a chemist herself, Mario began conducting chemistry experiments of increasing complexity. He was disappointed with the lack of interest his friends showed in most scientific subjects, but at age 11 he was sent away to a Swiss private school. He learnt German and attended classes, but still came away ultimately disappointed about the fact that his interest in science far exceeded that of his peers. He then decided to move back to Mexico in order to complete a degree in order to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a research chemist. Once there he quickly decided that a degree in chemical engineering rather than purely chemistry would serve him best as it allowed him access to a wider variety of classes. He later went on to pursue a PhD and begin research.
After completing his PhD Mario was accepted to work with Professor F. Sherwood Rowland He initially began to research "hot atom chemistry" the study of atoms which have been given significant extra energy by radioactive processes.…show more content… They met with Professor Harold Johnson of Berkeley, who had significant expertise in studying the atmosphere after his works involving supersonic transport and the potential effects it had on the ozone. Professor Harold helped confirm their fears and told them that similar conclusions had been reached by Ralph Cicerone and Richard Stolarski just a few months earlier. Cicerone and Stolarski had conducted extensive experiments regarding both hydrogen chloride and ammonium perchlorate, and they had independently realized that the release of the chlorine was causing problems for the
