Hubbert, Marion King

Marion King Hubbert, (born Oct. 5, 1903, San Saba, Texas, U.S.—died Oct. 11, 1989, Bethesda, Md.), American geophysicist and geologist known for his theory of the migration of fluids in subsurface rock strata. He became an authority on the migration and entrapment of petroleum and the social implications of world mineral-resource exploitation.

Hubbert was educated at Weatherford College in Texas and at the University of Chicago. He was made an instructor of geophysics at Columbia University (1931–40), a research geophysicist for the Shell Oil Company (1943–64), and a professor at Stanford University (1964–68) in California. He was based thereafter at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. His books include Theory of Ground-Water Motion (1940) and Energy Resources (1962).