UC Irvine Honors Chemistry Department, Nobel Laureates Rowland and Molina

Chancellor Michael Drake and more than 350 campus and community guests celebrated the achievements of UC Irvine’s Department of Chemistry on April 12. The event was triggered by the department’s receipt of the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Breakthroughs Award in 2006.

The award, which recognized the 10 most important 20th-century discoveries in chemistry, lauded UCI for F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina’s 1974 Nobel prize-winning paper linking chlorofluorocarbons to the depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer.

“UC Irvine is fertile ground when it comes to excellence in chemistry,” Drake said. “This vibrant intellectual climate nurtured the trailblazing research of Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina.”

Rowland, Molina and Chancellor Emeritus Ralph Cicerone, who is currently president of the National Academy of Sciences, held a panel discussion on ozone depletion and global warming. Former Vice President Al Gore also sent a video message congratulating Rowland and Molina for their discovery.

From left, Nobel Laureate Sherwood Rowland, Chancellor Emeritus Ralph Cicerone, Chancellor Michael Drake and Nobel Laureate Mario Molina.

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UC Irvine Honors Chemistry Department, Nobel Laureates Rowland and Molina