Paul Crutzen, the Dutch atmospheric chemist whose work helped save the ozone layer and who later popularized the idea of the "Anthropocene," died on Thursday.The big picture: Crutzen's research was key to identifying the role that human-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) played in destroying the ozone layer. But his truly lasting legacy may be his early recognition that human beings had so altered the world that we had entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.Get smarter, faster with the news CEOs, entrepreneurs and top politicians read. Sign up for Axios Newsletters here.Background: Crutzen, who died at 87 after a long illness, shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1995 for his work predicting the development and mechanics of the ozone hole. Crutzen, along with Mario Molina and Stewart Rowland, showed that continued use of CFCs — chemicals used in aerosol sprays and refrigerants — would lead to greater levels of ozone depletion, which in turn wou