Biography

Vaclav Smil received a doctorate in natural sciences from Carolinum University in Prague in 1965. In 1969, shortly after the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia, he came to the United States, earning a Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University in 1972. Since that time, Smil has been on the faculty of the University of Manitoba, where he is now a Distinguished Professor. His interdisciplinary research deals with interactions of energy, environment, food, economy, population and technical advances. He is the author of 25 books on these topics, the latest ones (both in 2008) being Energy in Nature and Society and Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next 50 Years. He is also the author of Creating the 20th Century: Technical Revolutions of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Oxford University Press, 2005); China's Past, China's Future: Energy, Food, Environment (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004); Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties (The MIT Press, 2003); and Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production (The MIT Press, 2001). Address: N306 Duff Roblin Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2. Internet: vsmil at cc dot umanitoba dot ca

By this author :

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