 Sydney Chapman (mathematician)

Sydney Chapman developed a quantitative explanation of atmospheric ozone photochemistry. In the basic mechanism, ultraviolet radiation dissociates molecular oxygen, an oxygen atom combines with another molecular oxygen and a third collision partner to form ozone, and further reactions remove it. His 1930 treatment connected the production and destruction reaction rates with the distribution and seasonal variation of ozone, while explicitly setting aside uncertain atmospheric transport. It was a testable physical model with stated omissions, rather than a complete account of all observed ozone changes.^[ref]

Sydney Chapman (1888–1970) was a notable British mathematician and geophysicist, renowned for his work in the fields of mathematics, astrophysics, and atmospheric science. He made significant contributions to the understanding of atmospheric physics, especially in areas related to the Earth's ionosphere, gas dynamics, and the behavior of gases in the atmosphere.