The world’s oil supply of cheap, conventionally produced oil may run out sooner than most people think and possibly within this decade says Caltech Vice Provost David Goodstein. Goodstein will give a free lecture at Woodward Hall at the University of New Mexico, Monday, Nov. 8 at 3 p.m. Goodstein’s lecture, “Out of Gas: the end of the age of oil,” will discuss the reasoning that leads to that conclusion and the likely consequences if it is correct.
“It may be possible, with considerable difficulty to substitute other fossil fuels for the missing oil, but if we do that we may do irreparable damage to Earth’s climate,” Goodstein said. “Even then we would start to run out of all fossil fuels, including coal, probably within this century.”
Can civilization survive if that happens? Goodstein’s lecture will consider the possibilities.
Goodstein, a professor of physics and applied physics, and the Frank J. Gilloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor, has been on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena for more than 35 years.
His research, in experimental condensed matter physics, has dealt with phases and phase transitions in adsorbed, two-dimensional matter, ballistic phonons in solids, superfluidity in liquid helium, and critical point phenomena. He is currently working on experiments that examine the dynamics of the superfluid phase transition in collaboration with Professor Robert Duncan of UNM and Caltech.
Professor Goodstein was awarded the 1999 Oersted Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the 2000 John P. McGovern Medal of Sigma XI, the Research Society.
Goodstein’s book, States of Matter, (Prentice Hall, 1975) was hailed by Physics Today as the book that launched a new discipline, Condensed Matter Physics. His other books include Feynman’s Lost Lecture, written with his wife, Judith Goodstein, and most recently, Out of Gas: The end of the age of oil (W. W. Norton, 2004).
Goodstein’s latest book is currently available at the UNM bookstore. Following the lecture, he will be available to sign copies of his book, which will also be on sale at the lecture hall.
# # #
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821