The Google Doodle on March 19 marked the birthday of Mario Molina, the Nobel Prize-winning Mexican chemist who alerted the world to the dangers of Ozone layer depletion. Molina's research was the foundation of the landmark Montreal Protocol, which banned the making of nearly 100 harmful chemicals.
The doodle dedicated to Mario Molina shows him pondering next to an artistic rendition of a depleted Ozone cover. Google's logo is redesigned so as to include O3, the chemical formula of Ozone.
The Google Doodle also depicts the causes of Ozone-deterioration -- the chlorofluorocarbons released from air conditioners and refrigerators.
The Ozone layer protects life on earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays . Molina was one of the earliest researchers to discover that it was being damaged by chlorofluorocarbons -- chemicals found in aerosol sprays and air conditioners.
It is for this piece of research that he co-won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995.
Born in Mexico City in 1943, Molina grew up to become fascinated with chemistry.
"I still remember my excitement when I first glanced at paramecia and amoebae through a rather primitive toy microscope," he told the Nobel Committee. "I then converted a bathroom, seldom used by the family, into a laboratory and spent hours playing with chemistry sets."
He enlisted the help of his aunt Esther Molina, who was a chemist. "I continued with more challenging experiments along the lines of those carried out by freshman chemistry students in college," Molina said.
Molina studied chemical engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and then moved to the University of Freiburg in Germany for an advanced degree.
After finishing his course there, started his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and later, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Molina's efforts have helped put the Ozone layer on a path to full recovery.
The scientist passed away in 2020 but a research centre set up in his honour -- the Mario Molina Center -- continues to work for sustainability in the world.
