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United States Susan Solomon is an internationally recognized atmospheric scientist known for her pivotal revelations regarding the Antarctic ozone hole and her ongoing research into atmospheric chemistry and climate change, currently serving as a professor at MIT.
Professor Susan Solomon uses previous environmental successes as a source of hope and guidance for mitigating climate change, discussed in a new book. This partnership highlights her role in academia and scientific communication.
Her article, 'Unfinished business after five decades of ozone-layer science and policy,' discusses the scientific and policy aspects of ozone layer protection, showcasing her thought leadership in environmental science.
An interview with Susan Solomon regarding the healing of the ozone layer and lessons learned from past atmospheric crises, demonstrating her expertise in global environmental issues.
Susan Solomon and Stephen Andersen discuss how science and international cooperation successfully addressed the ozone hole, sharing insights on environmental policy and scientific collaboration.
Awarded the National Medal of Science for key scientific insights into the Antarctic Ozone hole, recognizing her significant contributions to atmospheric science.
Feature on the discovery and decline of the ozone hole, with Susan Solomon recalling the world's shock in the 1980s and her participation in its study.
Article highlighting Susan Solomon's role in addressing the ozone hole and her leadership in a major United Nations report on global warming.
Her work formed the basis of the U.N. Montreal Protocol, an international agreement aimed at protecting the ozone layer by regulating damaging chemicals.
Quoted on the idea that the climate crisis can be solved, based on her work in the 1980s that established how human-made chemicals depleted the Earth's ozone layer.
Susan Solomon was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1956. Her early interest in science was sparked by shows like “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and further developed through a high school science competition where she placed third for a project measuring oxygen in a gas mixture. She pursued her academic career at the Illinois Institute of Technology, earning a B.S. in chemistry in 1977. She then completed an M.S. in chemistry in 1979 and a Ph.D. in atmospheric chemistry in 1981, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
Solomon gained international recognition for her groundbreaking work in explaining the cause of the Antarctic ozone “hole.” In the mid-1980s, she and her colleagues proposed the mechanism that chlorofluorocarbon free radicals, reacting on the surface of high-altitude ice particles over Antarctica, were responsible for ozone depletion. Leading the National Ozone Expedition to McMurdo Sound in 1986 and 1987, Solomon spearheaded efforts to gather empirical evidence, confirming the accelerated reactions and finding chlorine oxide levels 100 times higher than expected. This critical research became the foundation for the 1987 U.N. Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to protect the ozone layer by regulating harmful chemicals.
Her career further advanced with her work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where she headed the Chemistry and Climate Processes Group until 2011. Since then, she has been a distinguished faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holding the position of Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Chemistry. Her current research continues to focus on atmospheric chemistry and climate change, including the irreversibility of global warming due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and the ozone hole’s impact on Southern Hemisphere climate. She has contributed to multiple Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, co-chairing Working Group I for the Fourth Assessment Report.
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