VANITY FAIR NOMINATES OZONE SLEUTHS

HALL OF FAME

ECAUSE they said the sky was falling, and they were right, BECAUSE in 1982, Dr. Joe Farman, then director of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, relied on gut instinct rather than technology and took a closer look at "abnormal" data which NASA computers were programmed to discard—data which said that much of the protective ozone layer over the frozen continent had vanished. BECAUSE the existence of this "ozone hole," which can be roughly the size of the United States, was proved conclusively in Dr. Farman, Dr. Jon Shanklin, and Dr. Brian Gardiner's groundbreaking 1985 paper in the science journal Nature and became one of the most important scientific finds of the century. BECAUSE they sounded the alarm for the elimination of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, chemical compounds used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and fire extinguishers, which they definitively linked to ozone depletion, BECAUSE despite opposi-

tion, and more than a little ignorance, on the part of industrial and political powers—Ronald Reagan's interior secretary suggested wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses as possible protection from increased ultraviolet radiation—they boldly stepped outside the lab and into the unscientific realm of public policy in an effort to bring the crisis to the world's attention, BECAUSE in 1987, through their tireless efforts, 24 countries signed the Montreal Protocol, which put controls on CFCs and halons, although an unsatisfied Farman called the initial restrictions "absurdly weak." BECAUSE today, while progress has been made with the halting of production of CFCs and halons, Dr. Farman, at age 72, continues his work as a consultant to the European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit, and Dr. Shanklin remains with the B.A.S. BECAUSE they still hold out hope that the ozone hole can be repaired by 2100, and they still keep their eyes to the sky and their noses to the grindstone. JOHN GILLIES