Two San Diegans were among the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Wednesday.
President Barack Obama honored the late Sally Ride and Nobel Prize winner Mario Molina, Ph.D in a special ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the award’s establishment by President John F. Kennedy.
Molina came to America to pursue his graduate degree and later earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how chlorofluorocarbons deplete the ozone layer.
The UC San Diego professor has inspired a generation of scientists to leave the Earth safer and cleaner for our children according to the president's remarks.
“Dr. Mario Molina's love of science started as a young boy in Mexico City, in a homemade laboratory in a bathroom at home. And that passion for discovery led Mario to become one of the most respected chemists of his era,” Obama said.
Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, received the award posthumously.
The La Jolla resident held degrees in English and physics from Stanford University when she read about the new NASA qualifications in the newspaper. At 31, she flew into space aboard the Challenger shuttle on June 18, 1983.
Before her death of pancreatic cancer in July 2012, Ride devoted her life to helping girls excel in fields like math, science and engineering.
“Sally didn't just break the stratospheric glass ceiling, she blasted through it,” President Obama said.
“Today, our daughters -- including Malia and Sasha -- can set their sights a little bit higher because Sally Ride showed them the way,” the President added.
The other recipients of the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom include:
- Ernie Banks
- Ben Bradlee
- Bill Clinton
- Daniel Inouye
- Daniel Kahneman
- Richard Lugar
- Loretta Lynn
- Bayard Rustin
- Arturo Sandoval
- Dean Smith
- Gloria Steinem
- Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian
- Patricia Wald
- Oprah Winfrey
