Gustavus Adolphus College

Polar explorer, writer, educator and lecturer Will Steger is just one of the prominent speakers at this year’s Nobel Conference.

Heating Up: the Energy Debate, the 43rd Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College, Oct. 2 and 3, 2007, will consider global reliance on nonrenewable energy sources and explore a range of cutting-edge energy alternatives.

“The annual Nobel conferences are noted for timely and constructive discussions of important scientific and social issues,” said Nobel Conference Director Tim Robinson. “Literally fueled by rising gasoline prices, the energy debate is a topic about which more of us have become increasingly aware and formed strong opinions.”

For more than four decades, Gustavus has organized and hosted the Nobel Conference, which draws about 6,000 people to the college campus in St. Peter, Minn., and links a general audience, including high school students and teachers, with the world’s foremost scholars and researchers in discussion centered on contemporary issues relating to the natural and social sciences.

The Nobel Conference is the first ongoing education conference in the United States to have the official authorization of The Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.

Executive Director of The Nobel Foundation Michael Sohlman said, “The Nobel Foundation proudly supports Gustavus Adolphus College and this year’s Nobel Conference as it brings together an inquisitive audience and renowned energy and resource experts to examine global warming and energy issues and the resulting conflicts which impact political stability.”

2007 Nobel Conference presenters include:

• Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel laureate in physics and director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory;

• Kenneth S. Deffeyes, professor emeritus of geosciences, Princeton University

• Lee Rybeck Lynd, professor of engineering, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College

• James E. Hansen, lead climate scientist and director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York

• Paul L. Joskow, director, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Joan M. Ogden, co-director of the Hydrogen Pathways Program, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis

• Will Steger, polar explorer, writer, conservationist, educator, and photographer

More information about the conference, including additional information on each of the speakers and ticket information, is available online at www.gustavus.edu/nobelconference/2007.