The Sky Is Falling

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios

History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

October 11, 1995. Professor Mario Molina is at his desk at MIT when he gets a long distance call from Sweden. It’s the Nobel Committee, telling him he’s won that year’s prize in chemistry, making this chemistry prize the first awarded to a Mexican-born scientist and the first recognizing environmental science work. The Nobel Committee thanks Molina and the other winners for having "contributed to our salvation from a global environmental problem that could have catastrophic consequences." How did two scientists with no background in atmospheric chemistry identify a dangerous, invisible reaction that was putting the planet in peril? And why was the whole world able to pull together to prevent the worst?

Special thanks to our guests, Don Blake, Richard Stolarski, and A.R. Ravishankara, and to the Science History Institute for sharing its oral history interview with Mario Molina.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	History this week, October 11th, 1995.
0:07.0	I'm Sally Helm.
0:13.0	Professor Mario Molina is in his office at MIT.
0:17.0	It's a normal day for him.
0:19.0	This school year he's getting deep into some new measurement techniques with his grad students
0:23.0	and teaching undergrads the basics of atmospheric chemistry.
0:27.0	But while he's at his desk, the phone rings.
0:31.0	It's a long distance call.
0:34.0	So I got a call from Sweden.
0:36.0	That's Molina himself in an oral history interview conducted by members of the Science History Institute.
0:42.0	Now, a call from Sweden is something that a lot of scientists and academics dream of.
0:49.0	Because Sweden is home to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
0:54.0	In every October, they call up some lucky researchers out of the blue and tell them,
1:00.0	you have won the Nobel Prize.
1:04.0	Today, one person getting that surreal phone call is Mario Molina.
1:09.0	I remember being quite surprised because some people have mentioned I might.
1:14.0	I wasn't some list, but then I thought it was not very serious.
1:20.0	But it is, in fact, serious.
1:23.0	The Nobel Prize is indeed a big event.
1:26.0	Shortly after this, across the country,
1:30.0	another phone rings.
1:32.0	And another scientist, Don Blake, misses the call.
	...

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