Mario Molina

October 15, 2009

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Profile America — Thursday, October 15th. National Hispanic Heritage Month ends today. Among its activities across the nation, many notable Americans of Hispanic background have been recognized. One of them is Mario Molina, an important figure in understanding the earth’s atmosphere. Born in Mexico City, Molina earned his Ph.D. at the University of California. Molina was part of a team that proved widely used chemicals called CFCs were destroying the earth’s ozone layer, which protects humans from the strongest ultraviolet rays of the sun. The team’s work earned its members the Nobel Prize in 1995. There are 98,000 environmental scientists in the U.S, less than 1 percent of them Hispanic. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: www.pbs.org
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 596
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009edition.html