Nobel Prize Winner Paul Crutzen Dies at 87

Dutch Professor Paul J. Crutzen (L) receives the Nobel prize for chemistry from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, at the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec. 10 1995. Eric Roxfelt/AP photo

Paul J. Crutzen, a Dutch scientist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his work understanding the ozone hole, has died.

The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, where Crutzen was the director of atmospheric chemistry from 1980 until his retirement in 2000, confirmed that he died Thursday at the age of 87.