The response of ozone to solar UV variation is determined in the middle atmosphere between the heights of 10 and 0.2 mb. The definitive isolation of the smaller variations associated with short‐term solar variability is accomplished only after removal of the larger changes of ozone related to temperature variations. Using this approach the correlation coefficients between detrended ozone (Nimbus 7 LIMS) and short‐term 205 nm solar variation (Nimbus 7 SBUV) are found to be much higher (0.9) than achieved in previous studies. The theoretical response time and amplitude of response of ozone in the middle atmosphere to observed short‐term solar UV variations is found to be in good agreement with observations, except near 0.2 mb. The corresponding long‐term response over the solar cycle is also estimated.