18 Facts About Vaclav Smil

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Vaclav Smil has applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.

Vaclav Smil's father was a police officer and his mother a bookkeeper.

Vaclav Smil completed his undergraduate studies and began his graduate work at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in Prague, where he took 35 classes a week, 10 months a year, for five years.

Vaclav Smil married Eva, who was studying to be a physician.

In 1972, Vaclav Smil took his first job offer at the University of Manitoba where he remained for decades, until his retirement.

Vaclav Smil taught introductory environmental science courses among other subjects dealing with energy, atmospheric change, China, population and economic development.

Vaclav Smil is skeptical that there will be a rapid transition to clean energy, believing it will take much longer than many predict.

Vaclav Smil said "I have never been wrong on these major energy and environmental issues because I have nothing to sell," unlike many energy companies and politicians.

Vaclav Smil emphasizes that replacing the use of fossil carbon in the production of primary iron, cement, ammonia, and plastics is a significant and ongoing challenge in the industrial sector.

Vaclav Smil stresses the need for energy prices to reflect their true costs, including greenhouse gas emissions, and promotes a decrease in the demand for fossil fuels through energy-saving measures.

Vaclav Smil believes economic growth has to end, that all growth is logistic rather than exponential, and that humans could consume much lower levels of materials and energy.

Vaclav Smil's wife Eva is a physician and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.

Vaclav Smil reads 60 to 110 non-technical books a year and keeps a list of all books he has read since 1969.

Vaclav Smil is known for being "intensely private", shunning the press while letting his books speak for themselves.

Vaclav Smil is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology in 2000.

Vaclav Smil has been an invited speaker in more than 300 conferences and workshops in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia and has worked as a consultant for many US, European Union and international institutions.

Vaclav Smil's book How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going was a nominee for the 2022 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.