Kenneth Hsu

Kenneth J. Hsu (simplified Chinese: 许靖华; traditional Chinese: 許靖華; pinyin: Xǔ Jìnghuá) Ph.D, M.A., born 28 June 1929, is a Swiss scientist, geologist, paleoclimatologist, oceanographer, government advisor, author, inventor and entrepreneur who was born in Nanjing, China.

Contents

Biography

Education

Hsu (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.) studied at the Chinese National Central University (later renamed Nanjing University in mainland China and reinstated in Taiwan) (B.Sc. 1948), and came to the United States in 1948 where he studied at Ohio State University (M.A., 1950), and at University of California, Los Angeles, where he received his Ph.D in 1953.

Professional life

Hsu worked as a petroleum geologist and environmental engineer for the Shell Development Corporation (Houston), now called Shell Oil Company, between 1954 and 1963. He also taught at U.S. universities (1963–67), before becoming Chairman of the Experimental Geology Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), in 1967, where he was Emeritus Professor of Geology until 1994. Hsu started his business career after his retirement from teaching.

Professorships & lectureships

Hsu was a distinguished lecturer, guest or honorary professor in geology, climatology or oceanography at numerous renowned universities of the world, including Beijing, California (San Diego), Cambridge, Columbia, Florence, Harvard, London, Milan, M.I.T., Moscow, Nanjing, Naples, Ohio, Oxford, Paris, Princeton, Taipei, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, Woods Hole, Yale etc.

After retirement in 1994, he was Guest Professor at the National Taiwan University (1994–95), Guest Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Senior Fellow at the Berlin Institute of Advanced Studies (1995-56), Keck Professor at Colorado School of Mines, University Professor at Nanjing University, and University Professor at Beijing University of Geosciences.

Scientific work

Hsu served in numerous scientific organizations:

Editorships

Hsu was Editor and or Associate Editor of numerous journals including:

Institutional work

Hsu was elected a Member of the U. S. National Academy of Science in 1986. He later became a Foreign Associate. He was also an Associate of the Third-World Academy of Sciences, a Member of Academia Sinica (1988), the Mediterranean Academy of Sciences and several other academies of science. He was a founder of the European Geophysical Society and a founder of the science of paleooceanography. He convened the First International Conference of Paleoceanography and founded the journal Paleoceanography. Hsu also assisted in the founding of the Asian Association of Marine Geology. He also served for 11 years as President of the International Association of Sedimentologists. Hsu was the convener of the Third Workshop on Marine Geology of IUGS; the First Earth Science Colloquium of the European Science Foundation; several Dahlem Conferences of the Dahlem Foundation; and numerous symposia and workshops for IGP, ILP, IGCP, SCOR and JOIDE.

Advisory work

Hsu was a convener of numerous scientific conferences, founder of several scientific societies, and advisor to the governments of developing countries:

Scientific exploration

Hsu participated and led 5 deep-sea drilling cruises to the South Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea. He also led several international expeditions to Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, South China, California Coast Ranges and the Swiss Alps, travelling to 80 countries for Earth Science.

Academic work

Hsu joined ETH Zürich in 1967 as an associate professor and built up 5 leading international laboratories in the fields of rock mechanics (geophysics), mass-spectrometry (isotope geochemistry), Quaternary research (paleoclimatology), sedimentology and tectonics. During Hsu's 28 year tenure, 4 of the Geological Institute's staff received the Wollaston Medal.

Political work

His co-organized a consortium of 15 European member states to join the International Ocean Drilling Program.

China work

Hsu successfully lobbied for the admission of the Chinese Geological Union to replace the Chinese Geological Society in Tapieh as a member of the International Union of Geological Sciences and was a member of the first IUGS delegation to China. He served the Chinese Ministry of Geology and Mining in giving training programs for Sedimentology (1979), Field Geology of Tibet (1980) and Plate Tectonics (1992). From 1983-1995, he assisted the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with the completion of a project on plate tectonics and to publish a new Geological Atlas of China.

Appreciation

Two Festschrift symposia books, Controversies in Geology, and Paradoxes in Geology, were published by Hsu's colleagues on his 60th and 70th birthdays. In September 2009, his contributions to China and to science were acknowledged at a conference in Beijing, attended by dignitaries from government, industry and academia. He participated in the Earth Science Revolution of the 1960s, and is active in the field of evolutionary biology (symbiogenesis) with Lynn Margulis, and in the reform of geological education and physics.

Affiliations

Awards

For his contributions to geology, Hsu received several medals and awards.

Scientific contributions

In geology, his work included sedimentation in isostatically driven tectonic basins, the active margins of continental plates, physical chemistry of evaporite and pelagic diagenesis, documentation of granulite formation, catastrophic consequences of meteorite impacts, extinction of life forms and the limnology of Lake Zurich.

Commercial activities

Enterprise

After his retirement, Hsu made several inventions in mining, oil, water and energy technology, and founded various companies including Tarim Resource Recycling Limited (UK, 2003); Kenneth Hsu IHC Technology & Development Limited (China, 2005) and Lazarus Energy International Limited (UK, 2007).

Inventions

Hsu was awarded 16 patents in mining, petroleum, water, carbon, energy and environment management, including the Hydro-Transistor and Integrated Hydrologic Circuit (IHC).

Hsu's technologies applied in China [2] included:

Endorsements

After extensive research and development, Hsu's water technologies were unanamiously endorsed by an expert panel called by the Chinese State Counsellors' Office (Civilian Chief of Staff) of the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao; and by Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, and University of California Chancellor, Henry Yang, who both served on the Chinese Premiere's KHC Advisory Board.[3]

In 2000, Hsu combined the newly developed enhanced oil recovery techniques of hydro-fracturing and horizontal drilling, with water flooding, to invent a totally new process of residual oil recovery (ROR), called 3-dimensional fluid injection, to exploit residual oil. The method utilized water rather than carbon dioxide, although carbon dioxide can also be used in the process. Hsu suggested the technique could increase the recoverable petroleum reserve of the world by a factor of 50% or more.[1] [4]

With the full support of the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, in February 2006, an Expert Panel called by former Petroleum Minister Dr Wang Tao, unanimously agreed Hsu's ROR invention was innovative, and should be tested and applied in China. In April 2006, PetroChina reported a successful test at the Changqing Oil Field (Northwest China), first discovered in 1907. Prior to the test, its annual production was about 10,000 tons. In 2006, this rose to 10 million tons, and in 2007, to 20 million tons.[2]

Ventures

Hsu is active with institutions, organizations and corporations to apply the new technologies in China and internationally.

Consultancy

Hsu is President of the IHC Technology & Development Corporation (China), Senior Advisor and Chief Engineer to the Kenneth Hsu Institute for IHC Development (National Institute Of Earth Sciences, Beijing) and Director of the Center for Environmental & Health Engineering (Henan University, Kaifeng). His work on the link between nitrite in drinking water and cancer was documented in The Ecologist journal.[3]

Career timeline

Notable writings

Hsu authored or edited over 20 books, many in multiple languages, and was elected an International Writer of the Year by the International Book Club (Cambridge, UK) in 2003.

The Mediterranean Was A Desert, 1982

The book concerned Hsu's work deciphering the Messinian Salinity Crisis and provided a first-hand account of one of the most significant deep-sea drilling cruises ever launched. The voyage, Leg 13 of the D/V Glomar Challenger, was undertaken in 1970 and led to the hypothesis that 5.5 million years ago, the Mediterranean was a desert. It documented the adventures of the oceanographic expedition and offered portraits of 'big' science and 'big' scientists at work, with human touches, as a memoir for historians of science.[4][5] [6] The book was selected by Philip Morrison of Scientific American as one of the 100 most significant and influential books of science in the 20th century. A film was also made by PBS, based on the book.

Challenger At Sea, 1983

The book was an overview of the then current state of marine geology and a source book for the history of that science, and was used as a geology textbook for non-majors.[7][8][9]

The Great Dying, 1986

The book described the circumstances leading to the discovery that the dinosaur extinction was triggered by a cometary impact. An inquiry into the nature of survival and extinction, it was published in 6 languages, selling over 170,000 copies worldwide, selling 28,000 copies in the United States between 1986 and 1988; 100,000 copies in Mainland China in 1989 and 40,000 copies in Taiwan. A popular newspaper in Taipei United Post featured The Great Dying in its weekly list of best-selling books list for more than a year, and it was chosen as a top non-fiction book of the year in August 1992. Originally intended to teach the public, the book was used as a textbook in the United States for its scientific method. A film was also made based on the book by ZDF.

In the book, Hsu marshalled "some of the most gripping and controversial geological discoveries of our time to blast Darwin’s claim and to shake the foundations of his evolutionary theory,"[10] showing evidence indicating a meteor collided with the Earth, 65 million years ago, leaving much of it uninhabitable, and warning that a similar event may threaten humanity in the future.[11][12]

Klima Macht Geschichte, 2000

Klima Macht Geschichte presented a theory of climate and history, looking at future climate changes based on historical, archaeological and helio-biological evidence.[13] It made the prediction of global cooling of the planet in the last decades of the 21st century, and the coming of a little ice age before 2500. The claim forecast was corroborated by scientists Khabibullo Abdusamatov,[14] Yuk Yung, John Cassey,[15] Nigel Calder, Henrik Svensmark, Alexander Chizhevsky and John D. Hamaker [5]. Orell Fussli Verlag [6] published the book after an article about Hsu appeared in Bilanz Magazine [7] in 1998. Earlier, in 1992, Hsu wrote in Geographical Magazine, "Perhaps our species was created by Gaia to prevent a catastrophic chill" in reference to his published paper 'Is Gaia Endothermic?, on which the book is also based.[16]

Amadeus & Magdalena, 2002

Published in Chinese, English and German, with a Chinese translation titled “莫扎特的愛與死”.,[17][18] the book presented Hsu's musicological theory about the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Works

A complete list of books by Kenneth Hsu is available at the Kenneth J. Hsu Official Site [8].

Amadeus & Magdalena

Challenger At Sea

Climate And Peoples

Gaia & The Cambrian Explosion

Geologic Atlas Of China

Geology Of Switzerland

Tectonic Facies Of China

The Great Dying

The Mediterranean Was A Desert

The Search

Selected articles

Hsu is the author or co-author of more than 400 scientific articles on Archaeology, Cancer, Chronon Physics, Climatology, Cosmology, Cytology, Epistemology, Evolution, Fractal Geometry, Gaia, Geology, Heliobiology, History, Hydro-Physics, Languages, Marine Biology, Mathematics, Marine Biology, Music, Oceanography, Palaeontology, Paleoclimatology, Philosophy, Politics, Religion and Symbiogenesis. A complete list of articles by Kenneth Hsu is available at the Kenneth J. Hsu Official Site [9].

Climate Articles

Science Articles

Evolution Articles

Geology Articles

Music Articles

Materials citing Hsu

Books

Articles

Films

Other writings

Notable lectures

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/documents/2008/08070hsu/hsu.pdf Hsu 3-D Fluid Injection Document 2008
  2. ^ http://aapg08.onlineevent.com/PresentationLaunch.aspx?PresentationID=1630 KH AAPG Video Presentation 2008
  3. ^ http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/269421/cancersupporting_nitrites_an_alltoofamiliar_story.html Nitrites & Cancer by Oliver Tickell, The Ecologist, 2008
  4. ^ The Urantia Book, Editors: Richard Bain, Ken Glasziou, Matt Neibaur, & Frank Wright, Jesusonian Foundation, Colorado, "In 1970 the Glomar Challenger sailed for the Mediterranean Sea. Two scientists, Bill Ryan and Ken Hsu, were looking for evidence of the early history of the Mediterranean."
  5. ^ C. Vita-Finzi, Times Literary Supplement, April 1984: "In his book Hsu narrated a blow-by-blow account of the discovery that the Mediterranean had been a desert caused by the Messinian desiccation at the end of the Miocene.... Echoing a long-standing fictional conceit, Hsu boldly proposed that 5.5 million years ago the Mediterranean had completely dried up to become a salt-strewn desert. Hsu may tell us too much about his toothache and too little about his Chinese antecedents, but he amply succeeds in conveying the emotions and tensions of the cruise and the excitement that accompanies the birth of a persuasive hunch."
  6. ^ Ellen Drake, Geology, September 1984: "The whole adventure illustrates how modern science, big science, works, sometimes right on target because of brilliant intuition, sometimes hit-or-miss, and often frustrating because of wrong decisions or equipment breakdown. All students of earth science must read this book. Others should read it for pure enjoyment."
  7. ^ J. R. Cann, of The Times Higher Education Supplement: “Not only is the book good fun, and an honest account of how real science works, but it is a lesson for all practising scientists, especially those who find themselves tempted to be irritatingly conservative.”
  8. ^ Peter J. Smith, Nature: "That this book succeeds in imparting the flavour of what it must be like to take part in such a knife-edged enterprise likewise says much about Hsu’s skill as a communicator, not only of facts and events but also of hopes, fears, elation, despair and, above all, enthusiasm. Hsu has managed to reach parts of the scientific undertaking that most others have been unable or unwilling to reach; and the result is an impressive, if informal and racy account, for layperson and scientist alike, of the nerve-racking business of wresting information from the Earth’s deeper ocean crust."
  9. ^ Philip Morrison, Scientific American: "The book is a personal and candid chronicle of Hsu’s Leg 13, a tale of garbled radio messages, stubborn management, elated success, grim failure, shipboard intrigue and loyal and delighted colleagues. But his warmth, good humor and candid manner remain much as they must have been when he spent all those days and nights forward in the noisy little driller’s shack just starboard on the tower. The plentiful photographs, maps and bottom profiles are evocative and helpful. This is a winning account of a sunny and serendipitous quest after deep secrets, of youth and insight and simplicity amid world tangles, and not least a “testimonial to a friendship born at sea”."
  10. ^ The Great Dying, Kenneth Hsu, Ballantine Books
  11. ^ Scientific American, in September 1987, Philip Morrison : "Hsu writes with unusual clarity and intimacy. He spells out the full logical content of his arguments with more attention to how he came by his premises than is common in popular exposition. The book offers more, a first chapter and a last one. They are attractive, strong, compassionate and well argued. This brilliant geologist has divided a lifetime among three cultures, in China, America and Switzerland. He was certainly an achieve in his American phase. Now, however, he leans toward the Tao. In a cogent but brief discussion he finds no validity in natural selection as a driving force for evolution. Adaptation is real, but not natural selection. That is deeper water."
  12. ^ Lee Dembard, Los Angeles Times: "Hsu may well be right that chance is as important to evolution as any other factor. He presents, discusses and analyzes the evidence in support of the comet-extinction theory of dinosaurs and other species, and he shows the role he has played in its development. Hsu’s argument does not show that Darwin’s idea of natural selection is wrong. It merely shows that natural selection may not be evolution’s only determinant."
  13. ^ http://www.co2science.org/journal/2000v3n35c1.htm Solar Variability and Climate Change
  14. ^ http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080103/94768732.html Cold Spell To Replace Global Warming
  15. ^ http://www.spaceandscience.net S&SR Center Official Site
  16. ^ Geographical Magazine, March 1992.
  17. ^ "link to Chinese translation of his book on the death of Mozart". http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9239458. Retrieved 2007-04-30. 
  18. ^ "link to an earlier (2002) Chinese translation in traditional Chinese characters, with a title “阿瑪迪斯的愛與死”". http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010198339. Retrieved 2007-04-30. 
  19. ^ Part 4, Clues, in The Ring of Truth, Philip Morrison, PBS, ISBN # 1-578079-97-7 , 1987

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