Paul Jozef Crutzen was a Dutch atmospheric chemist, well-known for his work on ozone depletion and global warming. He won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. He was born in early 1930s, around seven years before Netherlands came under Nazi occupation. Brought up under a harsh condition by his working class parents, he managed to complete his schooling in time; but missed getting a university stipend. Therefore, he enrolled at a Middelbare Technische School and worked his way up to become a civil engineer. Later he joined the Department of Meteorology at the University of Stockholm as a computer programmer and at the same time began enhancing his academic qualifications, acquiring first a MS and then a PhD on photochemistry of atmospheric ozone. Later while working as a postdoctoral fellow in England he established his theory of ozone depletion and also demonstrated that increased use of nitrogen-rich fertilizers and fossil fuel is responsible for such a phenomenon. The work later earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He spent his later years working on global warming and was one of promoters of the theory of nuclear winter. He believed that, "Nuclear war could easily mean the destruction of not only our race, but most of the planetary life as well”.