The Antarctic Ozone Hole: A Global Success Story of Science and Policy (Distinguished Women in Science Seminar)

• Prof. Susan Solomon, MIT
• Sponsored by Stanford Department of Chemistry
• April 13th, 3:00-4:00 pm, In-person, Free, Stanford University, Sapp Center Auditorium (STLC111), Learn more

The discovery of a massive hole in the Antarctic ozone layer shocked the world in 1985, leading to remarkable changes in science, public understanding, and environmental policy.    In this talk, I will summarize how scientific discoveries revealed the chemistry that can deplete the Earth’s ozone layer, our planet’s essential “sunscreen” against damaging ultraviolet light from the sun.    I will also describe how the world came together in an international process that has now effectively phased out the production of ozone-depleting chemicals.   Finally, I will discuss some of the evidence that the ozone layer is slowly beginning to heal.

About the Speaker

Susan Solomon is the Martin Professor of Environmental Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  She is well known for pioneering research on the Antarctic ozone hole, as well as on climate change in the southern hemisphere.  She received the 1999 US National Medal of Science (highest scientific award in the US), the Crafoord Prize of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Blue Planet Prize, and the Volvo prize.   She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society in the UK. Time magazine named Solomon as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.  And her favorite honor is a glacier in the Antarctic that has been named after her.