Nobel symposium highlights the importance of atmospheric chemistry
The world’s leading experts on atmospheric chemistry are gathering in Stockholm, Sweden, for NOBEL SYMPOSIA 206. The research field has a huge impact on society but has not received much recognition over several decades – something KTH professor Barbara Nozière, organising the symposium, wants to change.
“I have noticed for years that atmospheric chemistry was disappearing from most scientific research programs, and the last Nobel Prize in our discipline was in 1995, over 30 years ago,” Nozière says. “It felt like it was time for our field to get some new recognition. When I saw the call for Nobel Symposia from the Nobel Committee and Swedish Academy of Sciences, I thought that this would be exactly what our field needs.”
Atmospheric chemistry investigates the chemical processes taking place in Earth’s atmosphere and their effects on its composition and climate. In addition to contributing to the fundamental chemical knowledge, this discipline addresses environmental problems and has already solved several planetary challenges in the past such as acid rain and the stratospheric ozone hole. It has also contributed to considerably improve air quality in historically polluted western cities, including Los Angeles and London.
Since the 1995 Nobel Prize on atmospheric ozone, there have been many breakthroughs in the field, in understanding the atmospheric oxidation cycles, the formation and evolution of aerosol particles, and the effects of aerosols on climate. According to Barbara Nozière, the atmospheric chemical community has also built many cutting-edge instruments, detecting ultra-trace compounds in the atmosphere or analysing aerosol particles smaller than a micron, technologies that can be useful in many other fields.
"For some reasons, these breakthroughs have not received much attention outside the discipline,” Nozière says.
At the NOBEL SYMPOSIA 206 , taking place in Stockholm from 29 June to 2 July, leading experts in the field will present overviews of these latest advances and propose strategies to solve the present and future planetary challenges.
“Among the environmental problems that atmospheric chemistry is addressing today are two of the biggest challenges facing humanity: air pollution, a leading cause of mortality world-wide, and the role of air chemistry and aerosols on global warming and climate change,” Nozière says.
After the Symposium, the main conclusions will be summarized in a perspective article in Nature and presented in more detail in a book addressed to the wide public and to anyone who wants to learn about atmospheric chemistry today.
Jon Lindhe ( jlindhe@kth.se )