Solomon was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her interest in science began as a child watching The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. In high school she placed third in a national science competition, with a project that measured the percentage of oxygen in a gas mixture.
Solomon married Barry Sidwell in 1988. She is Jewish.
For her critical contribution to saving the ozone layer, Solomon was a winner of the 2021 Future of Life Award along with Joe Farman and Stephen O. Andersen. Jim Hansen, former Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Director of Columbia University's Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions said, "In Farman, Solomon and Andersen we see the tremendous impact individuals can have not only on the course of human history, but on the course of our planet's history. My hope is that others like them will emerge in today's battle against climate change." Professor Guus Velders, a climate scientist at Utrecht University said, "Susan Solomon is a deserving recipient of the Future of Life Award. Susan not only explained the processes behind the formation of the ozone hole, she also played an active role as an interface between the science and policy of the Montreal Protocol."
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Solomon, S.; Ivy, D. J.; Kinnison, D.; Mills, M. J.; Neely, R. R.; Schmidt, A. (July 15, 2016). "Emergence of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer". Science. 353 (6296): 269–274. Bibcode:2016Sci...353..269S. doi:10.1126/science.aae0061. hdl:1721.1/107197. PMID 27365314. https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.aae0061
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