Joseph Charles Farman

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Joe Farman, 2010

Joseph Charles Farman (born August 7, 1930 in Norwich , County Norfolk , † May 11, 2013 in Cambridge , County Cambridge ), commonly known as Joe Farman , was a British geophysicist . He is considered one of the discoverers of the ozone hole over the Antarctic .

Life

Joe Farman was the son of a self-employed builder and elementary school teacher and grew up in Norwich with his older sister. He graduated from King Edward VI Grammar School in Norwich and studied from 1950 - thanks to a scholarship - Natural Sciences with an emphasis in mathematics and physics at Corpus Christi College of the University of Cambridge . In 1953, after completing his studies, he decided not to write a doctoral thesis and initially worked for de Havilland Propellers for three years in the field of guided missile development . In 1956 he moved to the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey , from which the British Antarctic Survey emerged in 1962 , the physics department of which he headed since 1969 and for which he remained active until 1990. He then worked in the chemistry department of the University of Cambridge until a few weeks before his death, which was preceded by a stroke in February 2013 .

Farman left behind his wife, the history teacher Paula Bowyer, to whom he had been married since 1971.

research

One of Farman's first tasks was to provide British measurement data from the southern polar region as part of the International Geophysical Year in 1957/58 . a. Data on the ozone content of the upper atmosphere and solar radiation were. These measurements continued year after year and showed no significant changes. For the first time in October 1982, the measuring devices of Farman's research group recorded unusually low ozone concentrations in the stratosphere above Halley Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea . As early as 1974, the physical chemists Mario J. Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland had predicted that the accumulation of the poorly degradable chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere could lead to a significant decrease in the ozone concentration. However, it was assumed at the time that the temperatures over the Antarctic during the winter months were so low that photochemical reactions can only take place extremely slowly. Therefore, Farman attributed his evaluation of the measurement data - a decrease in the ozone concentration of 40 percent since 1975 - to a faulty Dobsonian spectrophotometer of an older design, especially since measurements from NASA satellites did not confirm the decrease in the ozone concentration. Farman published the discovery in May 1985 together with his colleagues Brian Gardiner and Jon Shanklin only after a state-of-the-art Dobsonian spectrophotometer had been set up, the influence of unusual weather conditions on the measurement results had been ruled out and a plausible chemical explanation for the observed phenomenon had been found.

Two years later, in September 1987, the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer was passed. The measurements of the NASA satellites were later recognized as being influenced by programming that distorted the data: The sudden change in the correctly recorded measured values ​​was automatically interpreted as incorrect and therefore initially remained undetected.

Honors

In 1988 Farman received the Global 500 Award from the United Nations Environment Program . Also in 1988 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire and promoted to Commander in 2000 . In 1999 he was elected honorary member of Corpus Christi College , despite still not having a doctoral thesis.

Numerous obituaries emphasized that the evidence of the ozone hole was one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Pyle and Neil Harris: Joe Farman (1930-2013): Discoverer of the ozone hole. In: Nature . Volume 498, 2013, p. 435, doi: 10.1038 / 498435a .
  2. ↑ a b c Joe Farman obituary: Scientist whose discovery of the depletion of the ozone layer sparked global action to phase out dangerous chemicals. On: theguardian.com of May 16, 2013.
  3. ↑ Mario J. Molina and FS Rowland : Stratospheric sink for chlorofluoromethanes: chlorine atom-catalysed destruction of ozone. In: Nature. Volume 249, No. 5460, 1974, pp. 810-812, doi: 10.1038 / 249810a0 .
  4. ↑ Joseph Farman, 82, Is Dead; Discovered Ozone Hole. ( Memento from May 23, 2013 on the Internet Archive ) Published in the New York Times on May 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ Joe C. Farman et al .: Large losses of total ozone in Antarctica reveal seasonal ClOx / NOx interaction. In: Nature . Volume 315, No. 6016, 1985, pp. 207-210, doi: 10.1038 / 315207a0 .
  6. ↑ Dr. Joseph C. Farman. At: global500.org , last viewed on July 5, 2020.
  7. ^ Honorary Fellow Joe Farman CBE. On: corpus.cam.ac.uk
  8. ↑ Joe Farman: Scientist who first uncovered the hole in the ozone layer. On: independent.co.uk of May 21, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Farman, Joseph Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Farman, Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British geophysicist and co-discoverer of the ozone hole
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Norwich , Norfolk
DATE OF DEATH May 11th, 2013
Place of death Cambridge , Cambridgeshire