Thomas Gold
Thomas Gold Humboldt Prize (1979) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985) | |
---|---|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astrophysics, astronomy, biophysics, cosmology, geophysics, aerospace engineering |
Institutions | University of Cambridge, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Harvard University, Cornell University |
Doctoral advisor | R. J. Pumphrey |
Doctoral students | Stanton J. Peale[2] Peter Goldreich[2] |
Thomas Gold
Early life
Gold was born on May 22, 1920, in
Gold spent most of his nearly 15 months of internment in a camp in Canada, after which he returned to England and reentered Cambridge University, where he abandoned his study of mechanical sciences for
Work at Cambridge
Immediately after the war, Hoyle and Bondi returned to Cambridge, while Gold stayed with naval research until 1947. He then began working at Cambridge's
Steady-state theory
Gold began discussing problems in physics with Hoyle and Bondi again, centering on the issues over redshift and Hubble's law. This led the three to all start questioning the Big Bang theory originally proposed by Georges Lemaître in 1931 and later advanced by George Gamow, which suggested that the universe expanded from an extremely dense and hot state and continues to expand today. As recounted in a 1978 interview with physicist and historian Spencer R. Weart, Gold believed that there was reason to think that the creation of matter was "done all the time and then none of the problems about fleeting moments arise. It can be just in a steady state with the expansion taking things apart as fast as new matter comes into being and condenses into new galaxies".[13]
Two papers were published in 1948 discussing the "
It was not until the 1960s that major problems with the steady-state theory began to emerge, when observations apparently supported the idea that the universe was in fact changing:
For most cosmologists, the refutation of the steady-state theory came with the discovery of the
Accidental panspermia
Gold suggested a "garbage theory" for the origin of life which was an accidental
Astrophysics research
In 1951, at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, Gold proposed that the source of recent radio signals detected from space was outside the Milky Way galaxy, much to the derision of radio astronomer Martin Ryle and several mathematical cosmologists. However, a year later, a distant source was identified and Gold announced at an International Astronomical Union meeting in Rome that his theory had been proven. Ryle would later take Gold's argument as proof of extragalactic evolution, claiming that it invalidated the steady-state theory.[22]
Gold left Cambridge in 1952 to become the chief assistant to
Gold resigned from the Royal Observatory following Spencer-Jones's retirement and moved to the United States in 1956, where he served as Professor of Astronomy (1957–1958) and Robert Wheeler Wilson Professor of Applied Astronomy (1958–1959) at
In 1959, Gold expanded on his previous prediction of a collisionless shock wave, arguing that solar flares would eject material into magnetic clouds to produce a shock front that would result in geomagnetic storms. He also coined the term "magnetosphere" in his paper "Motions in the Magnetosphere of the Earth" to describe "the region above the ionosphere in which the magnetic field of the Earth has a dominant control over the motions of gas and fast charged particles ... [which was] known to extend out to a distance of the order of 10 Earth radii".[28] In 1960, Gold collaborated again with Fred Hoyle to show that magnetic energy fueled solar flares and that flares were triggered when opposite magnetic loops interact and release their stored energy.[29][30]
In 1968, a Cambridge radio astronomy postgraduate student Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her doctoral adviser Antony Hewish discovered a pulsing radio source with a period of 1.337 seconds.[31] The source – which was termed "pulsar" – emitted beams of electromagnetic radiation at a very short and consistent interval. Gold proposed that these objects were rapidly rotating neutron stars. Gold argued that due to their strong magnetic fields and high rotational speed, pulsars would emit radiation similar to a rotating beacon. Gold's conclusion was initially not well received by the scientific community; in fact, he was refused permission to present his theory at the first international conference on pulsars. However, Gold's theory became widely accepted following the discovery of a pulsar in the Crab Nebula using the Arecibo radio telescope, opening the door for future advancements in solid-state physics and astronomy.[32] Anthony Tucker of The Guardian remarked that Gold's discovery paved the way for Stephen Hawking's groundbreaking research into black holes.[10]
Relationship with NASA
From the 1950s, Gold served as a consultant to
In the 1970s and 1980s, Gold was a vocal critic of NASA's Space Shuttle program, deriding claims that the agency could fly 50 missions a year or that it could have low budget costs. NASA officials warned Gold that if he testified his concerns before Congress, his research proposals would lose their support from NASA. Gold ignored the warning and testified before a Congressional committee headed by Senator Walter Mondale. In a letter to NASA administrator James C. Fletcher, George Low wrote that "Gold should realize that being funded by the Government and NASA is a privilege, and that it would make little sense for us to fund him as long as his views are what they are now".[37] Gold recalled the aftermath of his testimony in a 1983 interview with astronomy historian David H. DeVorkin:
I had a very hard time with NASA, year after year. I got some more money, but eventually it fizzled out, after three years or so after this event. My applications, which previously each year had always gone through very smoothly, were turned down. I would then have to go to Washington, discuss it with them. and I then would get a certain fraction of it resurrected. For several years running this happened, and then eventually it fizzled permanently, and I've not tried to get any money out of NASA since.
...
I was certainly regarded as persona non grata with NASA after that. I had a very hard time. Shortly after that Noel Hinners became the Space Science administrator, and he used to joke about it and say, "Oh. Tommy's got to come to his annual pilgrimage to Washington," and regarded it as very funny, but then he'd always give me some money. But always clearly as a persona non grata.[38]
Origins of petroleum
Gold first became interested in the origins of
He began his investigation by studying how earthquakes facilitated the migration of methane gas from the deep Earth to the surface.[40] He speculated that a large enough earthquake would fracture the ground, thus opening up an "escape route" for gas. Gold believed that this would explain the number of unusual phenomena associated with earthquakes, such as fires, flares, earthquake lights and gas emissions. With his colleague Steven Soter, Gold constructed a map of the world depicting major oil-producing regions and areas with historical seismic activity. Several oil-rich regions, such as Alaska, Texas, the Caribbean, Mexico, Venezuela, the Persian Gulf, the Urals, Siberia, and Southeast Asia, were found to be lying on major earthquake belts. Gold and Soter suggested that these belts may explain the upward migration of gases through the ground, and subsequently, the production of oil and gas fields.[40][41]
Gold theorized that since petroleum and its component hydrocarbons were present across the entire universe, there was no reason to believe "that on Earth they must be biological in origin".
Gold was accused of plagiarizing the abiogenic theory from Soviet geologists who first published it in the 1950s, but the accusations were refuted.[45][46] After first publishing his views on abiogenic petroleum in 1979, Gold began finding the papers on the subject by Soviet geologists and had them translated. He was both disappointed (that his ideas were not original) and delighted (because such independent formulation of these ideas added weight to the hypothesis). He always credited the Soviet work once he knew about it.[4] His 1987 book Power from the Earth devoted five pages to describing important Russian contributions to the field, including those by Mendeleev, Sokoloff, Vernadsky, Kudryavtsev, Beskrovny, Porfir'ev, Kravtsov, Kropotkin, Valyaev, Voronoy, and Chekaliuk.[45]
Drilling in Siljan
Gold began testing his theory in 1986 when, with the backing of a group of investors,
In 1987, approximately 900 barrels (140 m3) of
In light of the controversy surrounding the sludge and possible drill contamination, Gold abandoned the project at Gravberg-1, calling it a "complete fiasco", and redesigned the experiment by replacing his oil-based drilling lubricant with a water-based one.[54]
The drill hit oil in the spring of 1989, but only collected about 80 barrels (13 m3). Gold stated, "It was not coming up at a rate at which you could sell it, but it showed there was oil down there." The drill then ran into technical problems and was stopped at a depth of 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi). The hole was closed, but a second hole was opened for drilling closer to the "center of the impact ring where there was even less sedimentary rock". By October 1991, the drill hit oil 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi) into the ground, but many skeptics remained unconvinced of the site's prospects.[48][55] One skeptic, Christer Akerman, the chief geologist of the Geological Survey of Sweden, remarked, "[t]here is every reason to stay calm and await the analysis of what they have found. The point is also that they will have to find commercially viable amounts, and it may be a long time before we know if they do."[56] Geologist John R. Castaño concluded that there was insufficient evidence of the mantle as the hydrocarbon source and that it was unlikely that the Siljan site could be used as a commercial gas field.[57] Some skeptics countered Gold's claims by suggesting that the oil found was actually contamination from the drilling.[34] In 2019, a study of gases and secondary carbonate minerals revealed that long-term microbial methanogenesis has occurred in situ deep within the fracture system of the crater (for at least 80 million years) and with an obvious spatial link to seep oils of surficial sedimentary origin,[58] at odds with Gold's theories of deep abiotic gas migration.
The Deep Hot Biosphere
In a 1992 paper, "The Deep, Hot Biosphere",[59] Gold first suggested that microbial life is widespread in the porosity of the crust of the Earth, down to depths of several kilometers, where rising temperatures finally set a limit. The subsurface life obtains its energy not from photosynthesis but from chemical sources in fluids migrating upwards through the crust. The mass of the deep biosphere may be comparable to that of the surface biosphere. Subsurface life may be widespread on other bodies in the solar system and throughout the universe, even on worlds unaccompanied by other stars.
A 1993 article by journalist William Broad, published in The New York Times and titled "Strange New Microbes Hint at a Vast Subterranean World,"[60] carried Gold's thesis to public attention. The article began, "New forms of microbial life are being discovered in such abundance deep inside the Earth that some scientists are beginning to suspect that the planet has a hidden biosphere extending miles down whose total mass may rival or exceed that of all surface life. If a deep biosphere does exist, scientists say, its discovery will rewrite textbooks while shedding new light on the mystery of life's origins. Even skeptics say the thesis is intriguing enough to warrant new studies of the subterranean realm."
The 1993 article also features how Gold's thesis expands possibilities for astrobiology research: "Dr. Thomas Gold, an astrophysicist at Cornell University known for bold theorizing, has speculated that subterranean life may dot the cosmos, secluded beneath the surfaces of planets and moons and energized by geological processes, with no need for the warming radiation of nearby stars. He wrote in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year that the solar system might harbor at least 10 deep biospheres. 'Such life may be widely disseminated in the universe,' he said, 'since planetary type bodies with similar subsurface conditions may be common as solitary objects in space, as well as in other solar-type systems.'"
Gold also published a book of the same title, The Deep Hot Biosphere,
Freeman Dyson wrote the foreword to Gold's 1999 book, where he concluded, "Gold's theories are always original, always important, usually controversial — and usually right. It is my belief, based on fifty years of observation of Gold as a friend and colleague, that the deep hot biosphere is all of the above: original, important, controversial — and right."[61] (Dyson also delivered a eulogy at Gold's memorial service, a segment of which pertaining to the deep hot biosphere theory is posted on youtube.)[62]
Following Gold's death, scientific discoveries amplified and also shifted understanding of the deep hot biosphere into what is now generally called deep biosphere. However, it is only at great depth where naturally occurring geochemical processes induced by intense heat and pressure produce elemental hydrogen and carbon dioxide upon which novel metabolisms of life (especially among the primitive Archaea) could have evolved. A retrospective paper published in the same journal as Gold's 1992 paper featured the metabolic and genetic discoveries of life forms at depth that Gold's paper inspired. Titled "The Deep, Hot Biosphere: Twenty-five years of retrospection,"[63] the authors conclude:
The pioneering ideas proposed by Thomas Gold inspired a generation of researchers in the field of geobiology to dive deeper into the possibilities of subsurface life, spawning hundreds of relevant publications.... Deep hydrocarbon deposits on Mars, Titan, and worlds beyond could play host to life similar to that in Earth’s own crust. The techniques used to better study and understand deep, hot biospheres on Earth could then be applied to robotically probe targets in deep space as we move into the next century of scientific discovery. Technology is advancing at a rate wherein we may find that Gold’s deep, hot biosphere is not only true, but common across the universe.[63]
A term Gold coined in his 1999 book carries forward, too,
Academic legacy
Throughout his academic career, Gold received a number of honors and distinctions. He was a Fellow of the
Astrophysicists Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge remarked that Gold "was one of the outstanding physicists of his time" and that his "versatility was unmatched".[69] In his foreword to Gold's book The Deep Hot Biosphere, theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson stated, "Gold's theories are always original, always important, usually controversial – and usually right."[61]
In the journal Nature, Hermann Bondi wrote "Tommy Gold will long be remembered as a singular scientist who stepped into any field where he thought an option was being overlooked. He was also unusual in working mainly theoretically, but using little mathematics, relying instead on his profound intuitive understanding of physics."[24] Stanley F. Dermott wrote "Tommy was a handsome, charming and generous man and a loyal colleague who formed many long-lasting friendships. A witty and articulate speaker, he was regarded by some as a scientific maverick who delighted in controversy. In reality, he was an iconoclast whose strength was in penetrating analysis of the assumptions on which some of our most important theories are based."[70] Anthony Tucker of The Guardian said, "Throughout his life he would dive into new territory to open up problems unseen by others – in biophysics, astrophysics, space engineering, or geophysics. Controversy followed him everywhere. Possessing profound scientific intuition and open-minded rigour, he usually ended up challenging the cherished assumptions of others and, to the discomfiture of the scientific establishment, often found them wanting. His stature and influence were international."[10] Harvard biologist Stephen Jay Gould labeled Gold as "one of America's most iconoclastic scientists".[39] Gold has been derided by geologists, such as Harmon Craig and John Hunt,[39] who are strongly opposed to Gold's abiogenic petroleum theory. Others had even started campaigns to prevent Gold from publishing his findings.[39]
Personal life
Gold married his first wife, Merle Eleanor Tuberg, an American astrophysicist who had worked with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, in Cambridge in 1947. He had three daughters with her – Linda, Lucy, and Tanya. After divorcing her, Gold married Carvel Lee Beyer in 1972.[5][9][10] With her, he had a daughter Lauren.
Thomas Gold died at the age of 84 from complications due to
Selected publications
- Pumphrey, R. J.; Gold, T. (1947), "Transient reception and the degree of resonance of the human ear", S2CID 4095013.
- Pumphrey, R. J.; Gold, T. (1948), "Hearing. I. The Cochlea as a Frequency Analyzer", JSTOR 82558.
- Gold, T. (1948), "Hearing. II. The Physical Basis of the Action of the Cochlea", JSTOR 82559.
- ISSN 1365-2966.
- Gold, T. (1955), "Instability of the Earth's Axis of Rotation", S2CID 5235427.
- Gold, T. (1959), "Motions in the Magnetosphere of the Earth", ISSN 0148-0227.
- Gold, T.; ISSN 1365-2966.
- Gold, T. (1962), "The Arrow of Time", ISSN 0002-9505.
- Gold, T. (1969), "Rotating neutron stars and the nature of pulsars", S2CID 4181490.
- Gold, T. (1971), "The Nature of the Lunar Surface: Recent Evidence", JSTOR 985848.
- Gold, T. (1979), "Terrestrial sources of carbon and earthquake outgassing", Journal of Petroleum Geology, 1 (3): 3–19, ISSN 0141-6421.
- Gold, T.; Soter, S. (1980), "The deep earth gas hypothesis", ISSN 0036-8733.
- Gold, T.; Soter, S. (1982), "Abiogenic methane and the origin of petroleum", Energy Exploration & Exploitation, 1 (2): 89–104, S2CID 135282142.
- Gold, T. (1987), Power From the Earth: Deep Earth Gas - Energy for the Future, London: ISBN 978-0-460-04462-2.
- Gold, T. (1992), "The deep, hot biosphere", PMID 1631089.
- Gold, Thomas (1999), The Deep Hot Biosphere, New York: Copernicus (Springer Verlag), ISBN 0-387-98546-8.
- Gold, T. (2012), Taking the Back Off the Watch: A Personal Memoir, New York: ISBN 9783642275876.
See also
- Abiogenic petroleum origin
- Gold universe
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Petroleum
- Theoretical astrophysics
Notes
- ^ "John Frederick Lewis Award: Recipients". American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ S2CID 220105932..
- ^ Who Was Tommy Gold? Published by aip.org Retrieved on April 28, 2019
- ^ .
- ^ a b c Mitton 2004.
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 3.
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, pp. 3–4.
- ^ a b Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e The Telegraph 2004.
- ^ a b c d Tucker 2004.
- ^ a b Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 5.
- ISBN 978-1-56593-873-1.
- ^ a b Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Silk, Joseph (September 5, 1994), Fundamental Issues in Cosmology, University of California, Berkeley, retrieved June 17, 2009.
- ^ Bondi & Gold 1948, pp. 253–254.
- ^ Bondi & Gold 1948, p. 255.
- ^ Bondi & Gold 1948, p. 256.
- ^ Bondi & Gold 1948, p. 262.
- ^ a b Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 7.
- ISBN 978-0-521-82081-3.
- ^ Gold, Thomas (May 1960). "Cosmic Garbage". Air Force and Space Digest. 43 (5): 65.
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Wilford 1980 .
- ^ a b c d e Bondi 2004 .
- ^ a b c Pearce 2004.
- ^ a b Dermott 2004, p. 1674.
- ^ Bondi 2004b.
- ^ Gold 1959, p. 1219.
- ISBN 978-0-387-30734-3.
- ISBN 978-3-540-76952-1.
- S2CID 4277613.
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, pp. 9–10.
- ISBN 978-0691002255.
- ^ a b c Bernstein 2004.
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 8.
- ^ Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC) Image Catalog, Apollo Image Atlas, Lunar and Planetary Institute
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 9.
- ^ Oral History Transcript – Thomas Gold, American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives, archived from the original on September 6, 2008, retrieved June 19, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Ringle 1999.
- ^ a b c Glasby 2006, p. 89.
- ^ Gold & Soter 1980.
- ^ Cooper, Christopher (16 April 1999). "Odd Reservoir Off Louisiana Prods Oil Experts to Seek a Deeper Meaning". Wall Street Journal. Houston, TX. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
Something mysterious is going on at Eugene Island 330
- ^ Vielvoye, Roger (February 5, 1979), "Gold's gas theory", Oil & Gas Journal, p. 30.
- ^ Laskoski, Gregg (14 September 2011). "Abiotic Oil a Theory Worth Exploring". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
Oil may not be formed the way we think it is.
- ^ a b c DeRosa, Neil (15 September 2007). "Black Gold: Thomas Gold's Deep Hot Biosphere and the Deep-Earth theories of the Origin of Petroleum". Meta Research Bulletin. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- ^ "Plagiarism Overview". Gas Resources. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
The attempted plagiarism of the modern Russian–Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins
- ^ Sullivan, Walter (July 6, 1986), "Swedish Search for Methane Tests Radical Theory of Fuels", The New York Times.
- ^ a b Shiry, John (May 30, 1991), "Gold Drills For Gas In 'The Basement': Weird science?", Financial Post.
- ^ Sullivan, Walter (March 22, 1987), "Natural Gas Well Is Believed Found", The New York Times.
- ^ Hodgkinson, Neville (June 12, 1988), "Sludge at core of earth boosts deep oil theory", The Sunday Times.
- ^ Glasby 2006, p. 90.
- ^ a b Cole 1996, p. 748.
- ISSN 0028-0836.
- ^ Cole 1996, p. 747.
- ^ Haliechuk, Rick (February 14, 1992), "Scientist says our bedrock contains vast oil reserves", Toronto Star.
- ^ Swedish–U.S. team believes it has proof of non-fossil oil, gas, October 16, 1991
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ignored (help). - ^ Castaño, John R. (1993), "Prospects for commercial abiogenic gas production: Implications from the Siljan Ring area, Sweden.", U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper (1570): 133–154.
- PMID 31628335.
- PMID 1631089.
- ^ Broad, William (28 December 1993). "Strange New Microbes Hint at a Vast Subterranean World". New York Times. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ ISBN 0-387-98546-8.
- ^ "Video: Freeman Dyson on Tommy Gold, hearing mechanism, and abiogenic oil". youtube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ PMID 28674200.
- ^ Wolfe, David. "Tales from the Underground". Amazon.
- ^ a b Todd, Louise (May 2006), Royal Society: Gold, Thomas (1920–2004), AIM25, retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ Recipients of the John Frederick Lewis Award, American Philosophical Society, January 7, 2009, archived from the original on December 29, 2008, retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Astronomical Society, February 15, 2005, archived from the original on November 22, 2005, retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ Dermott 2004, p. 1675.
- ^ Burbidge & Burbidge 2006, p. 11.
- ^ Dermott 2004, p. 1677.
References
- Bernstein, Adam (June 24, 2004), "Theoretical Astrophysicist Thomas Gold Dies at 84", The Washington Post, retrieved June 18, 2009.
- S2CID 122051.
- Bondi, Hermann (June 29, 2004b), "Professor Thomas Gold: Astronomer of brilliant ideas and wide interests", The Independent, archived from the original on September 22, 2009, retrieved June 22, 2009.
- Burbidge, Geoffrey; Burbidge, Margaret (2006), "Thomas Gold, 1920–2004" (PDF), Biographical Memoirs, 88: 1–15.
- Cole, Simon A. (1996), "Which Came First, the Fossil or the Fuel?", Social Studies of Science, 26 (4): 733–766, S2CID 145388316.
- Dermott, Stanley F. (2004), "Obituary: Thomas Gold, 1920–2004", Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 (5): 1673–1675, Bibcode:2004BAAS...36.1673D.
- Glasby, Geoffrey B. (2006), "Abiogenic Origin of Hydrocarbons: An Historical Overview" (PDF), Resource Geology, 56 (1): 85–98, S2CID 17968123, archived from the original(PDF) on 2008-02-26, retrieved 2009-06-25.
- Gold, T. (1999), "The Deep Hot Biosphere", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 89 (13), New York: PMID 1631089.
- Mitton, Simon (2004), "Gold, Thomas (Tommy) (1920–2004)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, archived from the originalon 2009-09-22, retrieved 2009-06-13.
- Pearce, Jeremy (June 24, 2004), "Thomas Gold, Astrophysicist And Innovator, Is Dead at 84", The New York Times, retrieved June 18, 2009.
- Ringle, Ken (November 1, 1999), "A Scientific Heretic Delves Beneath the Surface", The Washington Post, retrieved June 23, 2009.
- ISSN 0031-9228, archived from the originalon 2013-08-28
- The Telegraph (June 25, 2004), "Thomas Gold", The Telegraph, retrieved June 14, 2009.
- Tucker, Anthony (June 24, 2004), "Thomas Gold: The science maverick who challenged establishment thinking – and quite often turned out to be right", The Guardian, retrieved June 14, 2009.
- Tytell, Eric D. (June 27, 2004), "Astronomer Thomas Gold, renowned for originality, dies at 84", The Seattle Times, retrieved June 23, 2009.
External links
- The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth (Thomas Gold) U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 1570, The Future of Energy Gases, 1993
- Brown, David (November 2002), "Gas Origin Theories to be Studied", AAPG Explorer, American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
- Gold, Thomas (November 1, 2000), Thomas Gold, Cornell University, archived from the original on April 7, 2005, retrieved June 25, 2009.
- Oil Doesn't Come from Squashed Ferns and Fish??, Suburban Emergency Management Project, June 23, 2004, archived from the original on July 12, 2009, retrieved June 25, 2009.
- Segelken, Roger (June 23, 2004), "Thomas Gold, Cornell astronomer and brilliant scientific gadfly, dies at 84", Cornell University News Service, retrieved June 25, 2009.
- Kenney, J. F.; Shnyukov, Ac. Ye. F.; Krayushkin, V. A.; Karpov, I. K.; Kutcherov, V. G.; Plotnikova, I. N. (2001), "Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connection for Natural Petroleum", Energia, 22 (3): 26–34, archived from the original on 2003-02-21.
- Clarke, Tom (December 9, 2002), "Goldmine yields clues for life on Mars", Nature News, doi:10.1038/news021209-1, archived from the originalon September 9, 2009, retrieved June 25, 2009 .
- Hot Stuff: Iron-Reducing Archaeon Respires to Greatness, National Science Foundation, August 14, 2003, retrieved June 25, 2009.
- Rose, Walter; Pfannkuch, Hans Olaf (May 1982), "Unconventional Ideas About Unconventional Gas", Proceedings of SPE Unconventional Gas Recovery Symposium, Society of Petroleum Engineers, ISBN 978-1-55563-668-5.
- Proskurowski, Giora; Lilley, Marvin D.; Seewald, Jeffery S.; Früh-Green, Gretchen L.; Olson, Eric J.; Lupton, John E.; Sylva, Sean P.; Kelley, Deborah S. (2008), "Abiogenic Hydrocarbon Production at Lost City Hydrothermal Field", S2CID 22824382.
- Oral History Transcript – Thomas Gold, American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives, archived from the original on September 6, 2008, retrieved June 19, 2009.
- Thomas Gold interview
- Thomas Gold Publications – Harvard
- National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir