M. King Hubbert
M. King Hubbert | |
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(1981) |
Marion King Hubbert (October 5, 1903 – October 11, 1989) was an American geologist and geophysicist. He worked at the
Biography
Hubbert was born in San Saba, Texas. He attended the University of Chicago, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1926, a Master of Science in 1928, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1937, studying geology, mathematics, and physics. He worked as an assistant geologist for the Amerada Petroleum Company for two years while pursuing the PhD, additionally teaching geophysics at Columbia University. He also served as a senior analyst at the Board of Economic Warfare. He joined the Shell Oil Company in 1943, retiring from that firm in 1964. After he retired from Shell, he became a senior research geophysicist for the United States Geological Survey until his retirement in 1976. He also held positions as a professor of geology and geophysics at Stanford University from 1963 to 1968, and as a professor at UC Berkeley from 1973 to 1976.[citation needed]
Hubbert was an avid
Hubbert was a member of the
Research
Hubbert made several contributions to geophysics, including a mathematical demonstration that rock in the Earth's crust, because it is under immense pressure in large areas, should exhibit plasticity, similar to clay. This demonstration explained the observed results that the Earth's crust deforms over time. He also studied the flow of underground fluids.
Based on theoretical arguments, Hubbert (1940)[7] proposed a constitutive equation for absolute permeability of an underground water or oil reservoir where is the average grain diameter and is a dimensionless proportionality constant. However,
Some years later Hubbert (1956)[8] showed that Darcy's law can be derived from the Navier–Stokes equation of motion of a viscous fluid.
Hubbert is best known for his studies on the size of
In 1974, Hubbert projected that global oil production would peak in 1995 "if current trends continue".[11] Various subsequent predictions have been made by others as trends have fluctuated in the intervening years.
Hubbert believed that solar power would be a practical
Contributions
Hubbert's contributions to science have been summarized[13] as follows:
- Mathematical demonstration that rock in the Earth's crust is plastic, and that the Earth's crust deforms over time.
- Prediction of migration paths of hydrocarbons.
- Predictions of peak rates of oil and gas production, based on a consistent mathematical model which ties reserves, discovery rates, and production rates. His model remains highly influential, and has been widely applied to other finite resources.
Renewable resources
- Fisheries: At least one researcher has attempted to perform Hubbert linearization (Hubbert curve) on the whaling industry, as well as charting the transparently dependent price of caviar on sturgeon depletion.[14] The Atlantic northwest cod fishery was a renewable resource, but the numbers of fish taken exceeded the fish's rate of recovery. The end of the cod fishery matches the exponential drop of the Hubbert bell curve.[15] The comparison of the cases of fisheries and of mineral extraction shows that the human pressure on the environment is causing a wide range of resources to go through a depletion cycle which mirrors the Hubbert curve.
Accolades
Hubbert was a member of the
See also
- Bioeconomics (biology)
- Fred Meissner
- The Limits to Growth
Notes
- ^ a b Narvaez, Alfonso (October 17, 1989). "M. King Hubbert, 86, Geologist; Research Changed Oil Production". New York Times. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
- ^ "retrieved August-4-2011". Archived from the original on 2011-09-26. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ "Interview with Dr. M. King Hubbert By Ronald Doel". www.aip.org. January 17, 1989. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
- ^ "Environmental Decision Making, Science, and Technology". May 22, 2003. Archived from the original on May 22, 2003.
- ^ Cutler J. Cleveland, "Biophysical economics", Encyclopedia of Earth, Last updated: September 14, 2006.
- ^ Hubbert investigation Archived 2019-03-31 at the Wayback Machine (1943), p41 (p50 of PDF)
- S2CID 121822875.
- doi:10.2118/749-G.
- ^ Shell Oil Company/American Petroleum Institute. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2014-11-10., Presented before the Spring Meeting of the Southern District, American Petroleum Institute, Plaza Hotel, San Antonio, Texas, March 7–9, 1956
- ^ Deffeyes, Kenneth S. (2001). Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage. Princeton University Press. pp. 1–13. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03.
- National Geographic, June 1974
- ^ M. King Hubbert (June 1956). "Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels 'Drilling and Production Practice'" (PDF). American Petroleum Institute. p. 36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "ASPO Italia". www.aspoitalia.it.
- ^ "Laherrere: Multi-Hubbert Modeling". Archived from the original on 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
- ISBN 0-8137-1155-X.
External links
- Media related to Marion King Hubbert at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to M. King Hubbert at Wikiquote
- M. King Hubbert Bibliography Archived 2019-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
- M. King Hubbert papers at the American Heritage Center
- Hubbert explaining some aspects of worldwide peak oil. 1976 video clip of M King Hubbert speaking about fossil fuel depletion on YouTube