Paul J. Crutzen, a Dutch scientist who earned a Nobel Prize for work that warned the world about the threat of chemicals to the planet’s ozone layer and who went on to push for action against global warming, died on Jan. 28 in Mainz, Germany. He was 87. Dr. Crutzen popularized the term “Anthropocene” to describe Earth’s current geological era. The name, which he proposed in 2000 but which others had brought up in the same or slightly different spelling, suggests that we now live on a planet shaped by humanity.
By John Schwartz. New York Times. February 4, 2021.
