V. Ramanathan

Co-chief scientist for INDOEX and its primary architect, V. Ramanathan has an uncanny ability to devise theories about climate factors and then launch large-scale campaigns that confirm his ideas. Ramanathan was the first to demonstrate that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere are major contributors to global warming.

He developed a method that used satellite data on solar radiation to study the way clouds modulate energy and the greenhouse effect. He also led the Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment in 1993 that confirmed his theory that clouds regulate the upward limits of ocean warming in that region. In 1990 Ramanathan joined Scripps and established the Center for Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate (C4) as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. The center conducts research in collaboration with scientists and institutions worldwide. It also supports educational outreach programs, such as "Forecasting the Future," an elementary school curriculum developed in cooperation with the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. A native of Madras, India, Ramanathan held positions at NASA's Langley Research Center, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado State University, and the University of Chicago before coming to Scripps.

Paul Crutzen

Co-chief scientist for INDOEX and a Nobel laureate, Paul Crutzen is credited with making pioneering contributions toward understanding the chemistry of the ozone layer and how it is destroyed by atmospheric pollutants. Awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Crutzen was among the team that proved how sensitive the ozone layer is to the influence of certain manmade emissions.

For many years, Crutzen was a professor at the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry in Germany and is currently an adjunct professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 1970 he showed that nitrogen oxides of both natural and industrial origin react catalytically (without themselves being consumed) with ozone, thus reducing the stratospheric ozone layer.

A meteorologist, Crutzen has held faculty and research director positions in various institutes, including the University of Stockholm and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He has served as numerous international committees to study atmospheric chemistry, has won many scientific awards, including the 1990 Tyler Prize for the Environment, and holds four honorary doctoral degrees in addition to his Ph.D. from the University of Stockholm.