A "Transforming Energy" Lecture by Steven E. Koonin
October 9, 2007

Abstract

The world's demand for energy will grow by some 60 percent in the next 25 years. Satisfying that demand in an economical and environmentally acceptable manner is one of the most significant challenges facing society. New technologies will play a central role in meeting this challenge, albeit conditioned by the economic, social, and political contexts in which they are developed and deployed. The presentation will focus on the major forces shaping the World's energy future and the technologies required to respond to them.

Biography

Steven E. Koonin was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and educated at Caltech (B.S. in physics), and at MIT (Ph.D. in theoretical physics). He joined the Caltech faculty in 1975, becoming a full professor in 1981 and serving as the Institute's Provost from 1995 to 2004.

Koonin left Caltech in March, 2004 to become BP's chief scientist. BP is one of the largest independent oil companies, producing some 4 percent of the world's oil and gas. It refines and markets petroleum products in more than 100 countries and serves more than 13 million customers each day. Among the well-know BP brands in the United States are Arco, Amoco and Castrol.

In his capacity as chief scientist, Koonin is responsible for BP's long-range technology plans and activities, particularly those "beyond petroleum." He also has purview over BP's major university research programs around the world and provides technical advice to BP's senior executives on matters on Group significance.

Koonin is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. He has served on numerous advisory bodies for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy and its various national laboratories. His research interests have included theoretical nuclear, many-body, and computational physics, nuclear astrophysics and global environmental science.