Mario Molina

Hello! My name is Mario Molina. I was born a long, long time ago, in the year 1943, in a big city called Mexico City. When I was a little boy, I loved science. For my birthday, my parents gave me a special gift: a microscope. A microscope helps you see tiny things! I turned our bathroom into my very own lab. I loved looking at drops of water and seeing a secret world that was too small for my eyes to see alone. It was so much fun.

When I grew up, I became a scientist. I studied something you can't even see—the air! I learned that way up high in the sky, our planet Earth has a special blanket. This blanket is called the ozone layer. It works like sunscreen for the whole world, keeping us safe from the sun's strong rays. But I found a problem. I discovered that some things people were making, like the spray that came out of some cans, were going up into the sky and making tiny holes in our special blanket. This was a big puzzle I had to solve. We needed our blanket to stay strong to protect us.

I had to tell everyone about the holes in our sky blanket. It was very important. At first, some grown-ups did not believe me. But I knew what my science showed me was true. I talked to leaders from all around the world. In the year 1987, something wonderful happened. They listened! All the countries promised to work together. They agreed to stop making the things that hurt the ozone layer. We all became a team to help fix our Earth's special blanket. It showed that working together can solve big problems.

I lived a long and happy life helping our world. I lived to be 77 years old. People remember me because I helped protect our beautiful Earth. My story shows that asking questions and being curious can help make the world a better and safer place for everyone to live.