Professor Mario Molina has been involved in developing our understanding of the chemistry of the stratospheric ozone layer and its susceptibility to human-made perturbations. In 1974 he was a co-author, with F. S. Rowland, of the publication in the British magazine Nature, of their research on the threat to the ozone layer from chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases that were being used as propellants in spray cans, as refrigerants, as solvents, etc. More recently, he has also been involved with the chemistry of air pollution of the lower atmosphere. He is also pursuing interdisciplinary work on tropospheric pollution issues, working with colleagues from many other disciplines on the problem of rapidly growing cities with severe air pollution problems.

Professor Molina was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He holds a Chemical Engineer degree (1965) from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, a postgraduate degree (1967) from the University of Freiburg, West Germany, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (1972) from the University of California, Berkeley. He came to MIT in 1989 with a joint appointment in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Department of Chemistry and was named MIT Institute Professor in 1997. Prior to joining MIT, he held teaching and research positions at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; the University of California, Irvine and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

He has served on the US President's Committee of Advisors in Science and Technology, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, and on the boards of US-Mexico Foundation of Science and other non-profit environmental organizations. He has received several awards for his scientific work including the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with Professors F. S. Rowland and P. Crutzen for their work in atmospheric chemistry.