Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                       
February 11, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Mary Gannon
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, 
D.C.
(Phone:  AAAS Newsroom, 617/236-6131)

RELEASE:  93-26

AAAS TO HONOR NASA SCIENTIST FOR OZONE RESEARCH

     NASA scientist Dr. Robert Watson will receive the Scientific 
Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Monday, Feb. 15.

     The AAAS will honor Dr. Watson, Director of the Process 
Studies Program Office in NASA's Earth Science and Applications 
Division, Headquarters, Washington, D.C., and Dr. Dan Albritton 
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for 
their contributions to the scientific and policy discussions on 
global ozone depletion.

     The AAAS cited Dr. Watson and Dr. Albritton "for their 
leadership in 
gaining international scientific consensus on threats to the 
stratospheric 
ozone layer that laid the groundwork for the signing of the 1987 
Montreal 
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer."

     Under Watson and Albritton, research by NASA, NOAA and other 
U.S. and international organizations helped establish that 
chemical byproducts of 
human industry are causing significant depletion of ozone high in 
the 
atmosphere.  This depletion increases the risk of skin cancer and 
cataracts and raises questions about possible damage to food 
crops and the microscopic organisms that are an important part of 
the ocean food chain.

     International scientific assessments, several of which Dr. 
Watson chaired, led to a nearly global consensus to phase out 
chemicals that deplete ozone.

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     Dr. Watson, who received his Ph.D. in chemistry from London 
University in 1973, was also the U.S. representative to the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Science Working Group.

     The award will be presented at the society's annual meeting 
at the Sheraton Boston Hotel & Towers, Boston.  The Scientific 
Freedom and Responsibility Award honors scientists and engineers 
whose actions protected the public's welfare, furthered public 
policy debates, fulfilled the social responsibility of scientists 
and engineers or defended scientists' professional freedom.

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