Rowland, F Sherwood (1927– )

US chemist who shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1995 with Mario Molina and Paul Crutzen for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. They explained the chemical reactions that are destroying the ozone layer.

The power of nitrogen oxides to decompose ozone was pointed out in 1970 by Crutzen. In 1974 Rowland and Molina published a widely read article on the threat to the ozone layer posed by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigerators and aerosol cans. They pointed out that CFCs could gradually be carried up into the ozone layer. Here, under the influence of intense ultraviolet light, the CFCs would decompose into their constituents, notably chlorine atoms which decompose ozone in similar ways to nitrogen oxides. They calculated that if the use of CFCs continued at an unaltered rate the ozone layer would be seriously depleted after a few decades. Molina's and Rowland's work led to restrictions on CFC use in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Rowland was born in Delaware, Ohio, USA, and educated in chemistry at the University of Chicago, USA, receiving his doctorate in 1952. He is currently at the University of California at Irvine, California, USA. He was selected to be one of a US delegation of 20 to the World Conference on Science organized by UNESCO and the International Council for Science in 1999.