M. King Hubbert

Marion King Hubbert, known as M. King Hubbert, was an American geologist and geophysicist who lived from 1903 to 1989 and whose work reshaped understanding of finite resource depletion. He developed the Hubbert peak theory, predicting that petroleum production from a reserve over time follows a bell shaped curve, a model that became a core component of peak oil analysis and was later applied to other finite resources. He also demonstrated mathematically that rock in the crust of the Earth exhibits plasticity and deforms over time, and studied underground fluid migration. He spent twenty one years at Shell Oil Company own Houston research laboratory from 1943 to 1964 before joining the United States Geological Survey, and also held academic positions at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. His 1956 prediction that United States petroleum production would peak between 1965 and 1970 was borne out when production peaked in 1970. He received the Penrose Medal in 1973.