Nobel Laureate Paul J. Crutzen dead at 87

Professor Paul J. Crutzen died on 28 January 2021, at the age of 87 years, Report informs.

The Dutchman was Director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, from 1980 to 2000.

Together with Mario J. Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland, he received the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry to identify how nitrogen oxides erode the Earth's ozone layer and discover chemical processes that cause the ozone hole.

"Paul Crutzen was a pioneer in many ways," says Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society. "He was the first to show how human activities damage the ozone layer. This knowledge about the causes of ozone depletion was the basis for the worldwide ban on ozone-depleting substances – a hitherto unique example of how Nobel Prize-winning basic research can directly lead to a global political decision."

MPG-President Stratmann adds: "Paul Crutzen was also a pioneer of the sciences focusing on the impact of human civilization on the environment, whether through his findings on the destruction of the ozone layer or his later scientific work on human-made climate change. Moreover, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know him personally, not only as a brilliant scientist but also as an open, patient, and kind human being. His loss greatly saddens me, both personally and on behalf of the Max Planck Society – with Paul Crutzen, science has lost a true role model."