Two Nobel Prizes at UC Irvine in one day: 30 years later, the moment still resonates

To understand why Oct. 11, 1995, was such a big deal for UC Irvine and two of the school’s best-known scientists – the late Sherwood “Sherry” Rowland, a radiochemist who theorized that man-made stuff was eroding the ozone layer, and the late Fred Reines, a physicist who proved the existence of neutrinos – you have to consider the pop-culture relevance of science-oriented Nobel prizes .

For non-scientists, Nobel news can rise to the level of almost interesting.

Maybe you see a Nobel science story and read about why a particular prize was awarded, learning a little about physics or math or whatever until the information becomes too complicated. Maybe you see a picture and wonder how somebody who looks like your sweetest auntie is also professor-level smart. Or, maybe, you skip the ne