Culture of

Wonder
By:Cristian Mora
 The person I chose
I chose Jose Mario Molina. Mario Molina is

a famous chemist and scientist from

Mexico.
 Short Biography

Mario Molina was born in Mexico city, Mexico in March 19, 1943. He was so
interested in science at an early age that he created his own little chemistry lab in a
bathroom in his home. Before entering high school, he was excited to work with scientific
materials. For his education he studied in Germany and Mexico. After his education, he
moved to live in the United States in the year of 1968 to obtain an advanced degree in
physical chemistry at the university of California, Berkeley. While at Berkeley he met
Luisa Tan who later became his wife.

Mario graduated in 1972 and went to the university of California, Irvine in 1973 to
continue his scientific research. After getting his degree, Molina started to work at a jet
propulsion laboratory in the 1980s. In 1989, Molina joined the faculty at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology or MIT. In 1995 he won the Nobel Prize for his contribution to
 Short Biography continued.

science. He left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and returned to California in

2004 to teach at the University of California, San Diego.

During his lifetime he received a lot of medals and prizes based on the effort put in his
work. Mario Molina discovered that chlorofluorocarbons could destroy the ozone layers
molecules for a long period of time. If the ozone layer would get destroyed, ultraviolet
radiation from the sun would enter the earths atmosphere and would cause skin cancer on
us humans and would also melt Antarctica and the North pole faster. Chlorofluorocarbons
are a class of compounds of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine, typically gases used
in refrigerants and aerosol propellants. Another prize called The Presidential Medal of
Freedom that Molina received was from president Obama in which I believe was in 2013.
 Why I Chose Jose Mario
Molina.
I chose Jose Mario Molina because I wasn't really sure who to pick at from all the
Mexican scientists at first. Until I saw an article that had information about Mario Molina
and his contribution to science. Well I also chose Molina because all my family is from
Mexico except me and were also born close to where Mario Molina was born. In my family
we usually dont discuss about anything dealing with science
they actually knew good things about him like his
Contribution to science and told me to search him up to
do my project.
Sources
http://centromariomolina.org/mario-molina/biografia/

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/presidential_medal_of_freedom_to_
be_awarded_to_two_uc_san_diego_professors
http://www.biography.com/people/mario-molina-9411313#synopsis