Dr. Mario Molina, a Mexican chemist, turns 80 today. He was born on March 19, 1943, in Mexico City
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and earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico
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and an advanced degree from the University of Freiburg in Germany.
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After that, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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In the 1970s, Dr. Molina began studying how synthetic chemicals were affecting the Earth's atmosphere.
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He was among the first to discover that chlorofluorocarbons, found in air conditioners, aerosol sprays
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and other products, were depleting the ozone layer and contributing to global warming.
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He and his colleagues published their findings in the journal Nature, which eventually led to Dr. Molina being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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As a child, Dr. Molina was so enthusiastic about science that he transformed his bathroom into a makeshift laboratory.
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Today, he is known as Mario Jose Molina Henriquez, a Mexican chemist who discovered the impact of chlorofluorocarbons on the planet and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.