Joe Farman

Joseph Charles Farman CBE (7 August 1930 – 11 May 2013) was a British geophysicist who worked for the British Antarctic Survey.

Together with Brian Gardiner and Jon Shanklin, he published the discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica, having used Dobson ozone spectrophotometers.

Their results were first published on 16 May 1985.

He was educated at Norwich School, where he was a prefect in Coke House, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he gained an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences.

He received numerous honours for this discovery, including the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Environment Medal, the Chree Medal and Prize, membership of the Global 500 Roll of Honour, and a CBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.

For his critical contribution to saving the ozone layer, Farman was a winner of the 2021 Future of Life Award along with Stephen O. Andersen and Susan Solomon.

Dr. Jim Hansen, former Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Director of Columbia University’s Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions said, “In Farman, Solomon and Andersen we see the tremendous impact individuals can have not only on the course of human history, but on the course of our planet’s history.

My hope is that others like them will emerge in today’s battle against climate change.” Professor Brian Greene of Columbia University added, “the 2021 Future of Life award winners show how science can work for the betterment of humanity.”