Nobel-winning UCI chemistry professor Sherry Rowland remembered

The world’s largest natural products convention, a celebration of all things healthy and eco-friendly, was being held at the Anaheim Convention Center Saturday when F. Sherwood Rowland, 84, died at his home in Corona del Mar.

It’s not much of a stretch to say that Rowland, 84, helped spawn the industry that drew more than 60,000 people and 2,000 exhibitors. In 1973, the UC Irvine chemistry professor and a young researcher on his team, Mario Molina, discovered that manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons destroyed the Earth’s fragile and vital ozone layer.

The pair faced criticism and scorn from the chemical industry before being vindicated and winning the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1995. In 1987, the international Montreal Treaty was ratified to phase out CFCs, which were found in aerosol sprays, electronic solvents and air-conditioning coolants.

As I walked the convention floor this weekend, I saw entrepreneurs with products that aim to respect human health and the Earth’s precious resources. I don’t think Sherry Rowland, a plain-spoken and no-nonsense kind of guy, would wax enthusiastic over acai berry-green tea energy drinks, chia-seed cranberry bars or compostable baby diapers. But I think he would appreciate the idea that people need to be careful with what they do to their bodies and the planet. He called it “being prudent.”

I wrote a book about Rowland and Molina’s discovery in 1988 (“The Ozone Crisis”). At first I was intimidated by Rowland when I sought him out to write the book. He was twice my size (6 feet, 5 inches), twice my age and had at least twice my IQ. I was pregnant and sick that year, but he was kind and patient, submitting to many interviews and turning over reams of books and notes to me.

He showed the same generosity to his students — teaching undergraduate chemistry at UC Irvine for many years and hanging out in the lab with grad students and colleagues until just a few months ago. He didn’t reap huge financial gain from his research. He was just a scientist with a deep sense of humanity. Orange County, UC Irvine — the world — was lucky to have him.

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