Susan Solomon played a key role in discovering the cause of a major threat to the earth--the loss of the protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. Ozone protects all life on earth from large amounts of damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Solomon, an atmospheric chemist, was first to propose the theory explaining how chlorofluorocarbons , gases used in refrigerators and to power aerosol spray cans, could in some places on the globe lead to ozone destruction in the presence of stratospheric clouds.

Solomon said in an interview with Lee Katterman that she recalls "exactly what got me first interested in science. It was the airing of Jacques Cousteau on American TV when I was nine or ten years old." Solomon said that as a child she was very interested in watching natural history programming on television. This sparked an interest in science, particularly biology. "But I learned...