Rowland, F. S.

F. Sherwood Rowland is the Donald Bren Research Professor of Chemistry in Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. In 1995, he shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Mario Molina and Paul Crutzen, "for their work on atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone." Rowland, a specialist in atmospheric chemistry and radiochemistry, has authored or co-authored more than 430 scientific publications. He has been internationally recognized with numerous awards and honors, not only for his groundbreaking work in the laboratory, but also for his efforts to inform other scientists, the public, and policymakers about threats posed by chemical pollutants to earth's atmosphere. In 1974, Rowland was, with Molina (at the time a postdoctoral research associate at UC Irvine), the first to warn that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) released into the atmosphere were depleting earth's critical ozone layer. Research on CFCs and stratospheric ozone eventually led in the 1970s to legislation in the United States, Canada, and Scandinavia regulating the manufacture and use of CFCs, and in 1987 to the Montreal Protocol of the United Nations Environment Programme, the first agreement for controlling and ameliorating environmental damage to the global atmosphere. The terms of the Montreal Protocol were strengthened in 1992 to attain a complete elimination of further CFC production by the year 1996. Measurements in the atmosphere have confirmed that CFC emissions on a global scale have essentially stopped.Rowland was born on June 28, 1927, in Delaware, Ohio, to parents Sidney A. Rowland, a mathematics professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, and Margaret Lois Rowland (née Drake). After graduating from high school in 1943 at the age of 16, he enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan. Two years later, when he was 18, he enlisted in a Navy program to train radar operators. He was in basic training when World War II ended, but he served in the military for two additional years before returning to Ohio Wesleyan, graduating in 1948. He then began graduate study in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees under the direction of Willard Libby, 1960 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Throughout his college, military, and postgraduate years Rowland participated in competitive sports, excelling in both baseball and basketball; he spent two summers playing semi-professional baseball in Ontario.In 1952 Rowland finished his Ph.D. and accepted a position as instructor in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University. That year he also married Joan Lundberg, and in 1953 they had a daughter, Ingrid, and in 1955, a son, Jeffrey. Summers from 1953 to 1955 were spent at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where Rowland's research focused on hot-atom chemistry. In 1956, he accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Kansas where he ran a laboratory conducting research in radiochemistry, rising through the ranks until his promotion to full professor in 1963. The following year he was recruited by the University of California Irvine, to serve as the first chair of the Department of Chemistry. I n 1970 he retired from the chairmanship and began to shift the focus of his research toward atmospheric chemistry and environmental issues, the latter a reflection of cultural influences and the concerns of his own family. Eventually, he and postdoctoral research associate Molina began an investigation of the fate of CFCs in earth's atmosphere, and in 1974 they published their first research article on the subject. Their findings, that the release of CFCs into earth's atmosphere depletes the ozone layer, immediately drew widespread scholarly and media attention. Proposals for laws to limit the manufacture of CFCs, starting with a ban on CFCs as aerosol propellants in consumer products, drew steep resistance from chemical manufacturers who challenged the CFC theory of ozone depletion. For the next three decades, Rowland was at the center of the controversies surrounding not only CFCs and ozone depletion, but also global climate change, serving as a frequent spokesperson on these atmospheric environmental problems in both broadcast and print media. As of 2011 he continues to run the Rowland-Blake Laboratory at UC Irvine with his research partner, Donald Blake. Rowland's professional activities include serving as the foreign secretary of the National Academy of Sciences from July 1994 to June 2002. In 1995, he created, with Professor Prakesh Tandon of India, the InterAcademy Panel, a global network of the world's science academies, now representing more than 100 academies. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine. Beginning in 1991, Rowland served successive one-year terms as president-elect, president, and chairman of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the publishers of Science Magazine.

Biography

F. Sherwood Rowland is the Donald Bren Research Professor of Chemistry in Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. In 1995, he shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Mario Molina and Paul Crutzen, "for their work on atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone." Rowland, a specialist in atmospheric chemistry and radiochemistry, has authored or co-authored more than 430 scientific publications. He has been internationally recognized with numerous awards and honors, not only for his groundbreaking work in the laboratory, but also for his efforts to inform other scientists, the public, and policymakers about threats posed by chemical pollutants to earth's atmosphere.

In 1974, Rowland was, with Molina (at the time a postdoctoral research associate at UC Irvine), the first to warn that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) released into the atmosphere were depleting earth’s critical ozone layer. Research on CFCs and stratospheric ozone eventually led in the 1970s to legislation in the United States, Canada, and Scandinavia regulating the manufacture and use of CFCs, and in 1987 to the Montreal Protocol of the United Nations Environment Programme, the first agreement for controlling and ameliorating environmental damage to the global atmosphere. The terms of the Montreal Protocol were strengthened in 1992 to attain a complete elimination of further CFC production by the year 1996. Measurements in the atmosphere have confirmed that CFC emissions on a global scale have essentially stopped.

Rowland was born on June 28, 1927, in Delaware, Ohio, to parents Sidney A. Rowland, a mathematics professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, and Margaret Lois Rowland (née Drake). After graduating from high school in 1943 at the age of 16, he enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan. Two years later, when he was 18, he enlisted in a Navy program to train radar operators. He was in basic training when World War II ended, but he served in the military for two additional years before returning to Ohio Wesleyan, graduating in 1948. He then began graduate study in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees under the direction of Willard Libby, 1960 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Throughout his college, military, and postgraduate years Rowland participated in competitive sports, excelling in both baseball and basketball; he spent two summers playing semi-professional baseball in Ontario.

In 1952 Rowland finished his Ph.D. and accepted a position as instructor in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University. That year he also married Joan Lundberg, and in 1953 they had a daughter, Ingrid, and in 1955, a son, Jeffrey. Summers from 1953 to 1955 were spent at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where Rowland's research focused on hot-atom chemistry. In 1956, he accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Kansas where he ran a laboratory conducting research in radiochemistry, rising through the ranks until his promotion to full professor in 1963. The following year he was recruited by the University of California Irvine, to serve as the first chair of the Department of Chemistry.

In 1970 he retired from the chairmanship and began to shift the focus of his research toward atmospheric chemistry and environmental issues, the latter a reflection of cultural influences and the concerns of his own family. Eventually, he and postdoctoral research associate Molina began an investigation of the fate of CFCs in earth's atmosphere, and in 1974 they published their first research article on the subject. Their findings, that the release of CFCs into earth's atmosphere depletes the ozone layer, immediately drew widespread scholarly and media attention. Proposals for laws to limit the manufacture of CFCs, starting with a ban on CFCs as aerosol propellants in consumer products, drew steep resistance from chemical manufacturers who challenged the CFC theory of ozone depletion. For the next three decades, Rowland was at the center of the controversies surrounding not only CFCs and ozone depletion, but also global climate change, serving as a frequent spokesperson on these atmospheric environmental problems in both broadcast and print media. As of 2011 he continues to run the Rowland-Blake Laboratory at UC Irvine with his research partner, Donald Blake.

Rowland's professional activities include serving as the foreign secretary of the National Academy of Sciences from July 1994 to June 2002. In 1995, he created, with Professor Prakesh Tandon of India, the InterAcademy Panel, a global network of the world's science academies, now representing more than 100 academies. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine. Beginning in 1991, Rowland served successive one-year terms as president-elect, president, and chairman of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the publishers of Science Magazine .

Historical Background