Joe Farman (1930–2013) Discoverer of the Ozone Hole
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OBITUARY COMMENT Joe Farman (1930–2013) Discoverer of the ozone hole. oe Farman led a team of scientists to make atmosphere. But along with his colleagues for decades-long records in geophysics. For one of the most important geophysical dis- Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, he him, theory came a distant second to meas- Jcoveries of the twentieth century. In 1985, could find no error. Meteorological data urements, and computer models were the group from the British Antarctic Survey from Halley Bay also ruled out the possibility distinctly suspect. We often saw him colour- discovered a hole in the ozone layer — the that some unforeseen weather phenomenon ing in meteorological or satellite ozone maps, atmospheric shield that absorbs ultraviolet was to blame. which allowed him to think about what the rays. Their seminal article in Nature helped To solve the puzzle, Farman had to turn to data were showing in a way that producing to convince scientists, the public, politicians chemistry. The group’s paper (J. C. Farman et a computer plot would not have done. And and even the chemical industry that synthetic al. Nature 315, 207–210; 1985) bravely identi- of course, he delighted in finding occasional chemicals had driven a 40% decline in ozone fied the breakdown products of chlorofluoro- errors in computer-generated plots from levels over Antarctica in less than a decade. carbons (CFCs) as the cause of the ozone loss. NASA or the UK Met Office. Farman, who died in Cambridge, UK, Joe was rigorous, critical of everything on 11 May, was born in Norfolk in 1930. and dogged. And he absolutely hated being As a student at King Edward VI’s Grammar wrong. When writing reports, such as School in Norwich, he won a scholarship the series of Stratospheric Ozone Review to Corpus Christi College at the University Group reports for the UK Department of of Cambridge, where he studied natural the Environment in the late 1980s and early sciences. After graduating in 1953, he 1990s, Joe wanted to test every statement DAVID ROSE/REX FEATURES DAVID worked on guided missiles for three years at to destruction. He was both a frustrating de Havilland Propellers, a British company. colleague and a joy to work with. He then joined the Falkland Islands Depend- Joe did not naturally seek the limelight, so encies Survey, which later became the it was remarkable that after the publication of British Antarctic Survey, the national the ozone-hole paper, he entered the policy Antarctic research operation. arena so keenly and effectively. He did so at Farman worked for the survey, first in a time when the United Kingdom, with the Edinburgh and then in Cambridge, until personal backing of then Prime Minister 1990. Initially, he was responsible for pro- Margaret Thatcher, was taking a leading role viding a range of basic geophysical measure- in the international negotiations that in 1990 ments, including ozone and radiation levels, resulted in the London Amendment to the for the International Geophysical Year that Montreal Protocol. This amendment has been lasted from July 1957 to December 1958. This successful in bringing significant reductions project aimed, among other goals, to open up in CFC emissions. the Antarctic continent for scientific research. Their strong statement was more remarkable Whether Joe talked to industry representa- In the early 1980s, Farman and his group in the light of Farman’s innate caution. tives or to journalists, it was always important recorded anomalously low levels of ozone As well as driving a sea change in attitudes to him to educate them about the science. In in the stratosphere above Halley Bay in towards the ozone problem, the group’s fact, it was his scientific integrity that gave Antarctica. The fact that atmospheric ozone discovery helped to bring about the Montreal him such credibility as a public advocate in could be depleted by halogen species, such as Protocol, a 1987 international treaty to protect the development of the Montreal Protocol. fluorine and chlorine, had been postulated the ozone layer and to phase out CFCs and Joe was a wonderful friend and colleague — a decade earlier by atmospheric chemists other ozone-depleting gases. Kofi Annan, for- generous with advice and ideas about science, F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina. mer Secretary General of the United Nations, but also about wine, English rugby, garden- But according to their theory, the biggest has described the protocol as “perhaps the ing, cross-country skiing and the conducting losses should have occurred some 40 kilo- single most successful international agree- of Hector Berlioz’s music, all delivered with metres above Earth’s surface. Farman and ment to date”. his surreal good humour (he loved The Goon his colleagues had revealed a rapid depletion When Farman reached retirement age in Show). He was awarded several prizes and of ozone levels in an unexpected place and 1990, he started working as a volunteer con- honorary degrees, and took great pleasure, at an unexpected time of year — spring- sultant for the European Ozone Research in particular, in the fellowship and then time temperatures above Antarctica are so Coordinating Unit, which was relocated from honorary fellowship conferred on him by his low that any photochemical reactions were the Cambridge offices of the British Antarc- old college at Cambridge. He is survived by predicted to be exceptionally slow. Further- tic Survey to the University of Cambridge’s Paula, his wife of 42 years. more, satellite data from NASA apparently chemistry department in 1995. While the showed no such decline in ozone. two of us (J.P. and N.H.) each took a turn at John Pyle and Neil Harris are at the Farman’s first reaction was to check and heading the unit, Farman, although unpaid, Department of Chemistry, University of recheck the Dobson instruments — the came in nearly every day. Cambridge, UK. J.P. is also at the National devices used to calculate the thickness of Farman’s scientific life was character- Centre for Atmospheric Science, UK. the ozone layer by measuring the amount ized by a painstaking attention to detail. He e-mails: [email protected]; of ultraviolet radiation penetrating the believed in the primacy of data and the need [email protected] 27 JUNE 2013 | VOL 498 | NATURE | 435 © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.