Prof. Mario J. Molina, the Nobel Prize Winner of 1995 in chemistry, visited Tsinghua University on September 23. Tsinghua President Gu Binglin met and had a friendly talk with Prof. Molina.

After the meeting, Prof. Molina made a speech titled “Impacts of Human Activities on Atmosphere” in the Main Building . He talked about major environmental challenges for the 21th century and the impacts of human activities on atmosphere. After the speech, Prof. Molina answered questions raised by the seated students, such as air pollution, greenhouse effect, and so on. Academician Qian Yi hosted the speech. A total of nearly 400 students from Tsinghua University , Peking University , Beijing Normal University , and Beijing Forestry University listened to the speech.

Prof. Mario J. Molina was born in Mexico City on March 19, 1943 . He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico in 1965, a master degree from the University of Freiburg, West Germany in 1967, and a doctoral degree in physical chemistry from UC Berkeley, California in 1972. Prof. Molina received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995 for his work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.

Reported by Li Han