Harold S. Johnston
| Harold S. Johnston | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 11, 1920 |
| Died | October 20, 2012 (aged 92) Kensington, California |
| Fields | Atmospheric chemistry |
| Institutions |
Stanford University UC Berkeley |
| Alma mater | Caltech |
| Known for | Ozone depletion research |
| Influenced |
Dudley R. Herschbach Susan Solomon |
| Notable awards | National Medal of Science (1997) |
Harold S. "Hal" Johnston (October 11, 1920 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientist who studied chemical kinetics and atmospheric chemistry. After beginning his academic career at Stanford University, he was a faculty member and administrator at the University of California, Berkeley for nearly 35 years. In 1971, Johnston authored a paper suggesting that environmental pollutants could erode the ozone layer.
Johnston was elected to several scholarly organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He won the National Medal of Science in 1997.
Johnston was born in . His father, Smith Lemon Johnston, helped to run his family's general store. They lived on a Georgia farm when Harold Johnston was young. In the early 1930s, Johnston contracted rheumatic fever and the illness affected his heart. A physician uncle told Johnston's father not to send Johnston to college because the young man would not survive long enough to get much use out of the education. Johnston said he later learned that the disease was associated with an average survival period of fifteen years at the time.
Going to college at Emory University with aspirations of becoming a journalist, Johnston soon realized that the U.S. was headed toward World War II and that a science degree would serve him better. Johnston completed an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a minor in English literature. Johnston received a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology. As a doctoral student, Johnston focused on the interaction of ozone and the pollutant nitrogen dioxide. While at Caltech, he joined in a secret defense project that involved protecting the country against the use of gas warfare.
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