Heroes and Cultural Identity Project

SCE Heroes - Jonathan Shanklin

My Hero - Jonathan Shanklin

I have chosen Jonathan Shanklin as my Science Hero who discovered the Antarctica Ozone Hole in 1985. This discovery will be related to my ecological study at University, and it is also one of my interests in global environmental problems.

Jonathan Shanklin was born in North Wales and had education at King's school, and then he proceeded to his study at Cambridge University. Now he has been working for British Antarctic Survey (BAS) since 1977 as a leader in the Meteorological and Ozone Unit, running the operational side of the BAS meteorological observing program.

The discovery of the Ozone Hole in Antarctica warned the possibility of the ultraviolet rays from sun, which can cause skin cancer, reaching us directly through the gap of the ozone layer. The thin layer has nevertheless protected life on Earth from the effect of the ultraviolet rays for nearly 1 billion years.

However, it was ironically caused due to man-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which destroy the ozone layer. The layer has still been depleted, so this problem might change our life-style in the future.

Daisuke Taira is a science student on the Access Biological Science Course at Stevenson College Edinburgh