F. Herbert Bormann

Who was F. Herbert Bormann?

F. Herbert Bormann was an American plant ecologist whose 1971 research within a Connecticut forest with fellow scientists was credited with the discovery of acid rain. His research was one of the major contributory factors towards changes made in the United States' Clean Air Act in 1990. In 1993 he was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and in 2003 he received the Blue Planet Prize, both awards alongside his colleague Gene Likens. His publications include 8 books and more than 200 journal articles.

Born in Manhattan, Bormann was raised in Westwood, New Jersey. He studied for one semester at the University of Idaho before enlisting in the United States Navy following the outbreak of World War II. He worked as a welder for the Navy during the war, after which he studied at Rutgers University and Duke University. He went on to teach ecology on the faculties of Emory University, Dartmouth College, and Yale University. He died in 2012 in North Branford, Connecticut from complications resulting from a lung infection.