The Earth Engineering Center

of Columbia University

KLAUS S. LACKNER

(212) 854-0304

kl2010@columbia.edu

Professional preparation:

Degrees from Heidelberg University, Germany; Vordiplom, (equivalent to a B.S.) in 1975, Diplom (or M.S.) in 1976 and Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics, summa cum laude, in 1978.  Clemm-Haas Price for outstanding Ph. D. thesis at Heidelberg University;  Cold Spring Harbor Summer School on Computational Neuroscience, 1985. 

Prof. Lackner joined the faculty of Columbia University in 2001, where he is now the Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering.   He received his Ph.D. in 1978 in theoretical physics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.  He held postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center before joining Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1983.  He has been a scientist in the Theoretical Division for much of that time, but also has been part of the Laboratory’s upper management.  He held several positions among them Acting Associate Laboratory Director for Strategic and Supporting Research, which represents roughly a third of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Klaus Lackner’s scientific career started in the phenomenology of weakly interacting particles. Later searching for quarks, he and George Zweig developed the chemistry of atoms with fractional nuclear charge. He is still participating in matter searches for particles with a non-integer charge in an experiment conducted at Stanford by Martin Perl and his group.  After joining Los Alamos National Laboratory, Klaus Lackner became involved in hydrodynamic work and fusion related research.  In recent years, he has published on the behavior of high explosives, novel approaches to inertial confinement fusion, and numerical algorithms.  His interest in self-replicating machine systems has been recognized by Discover Magazine as one of seven ideas that could change the world.  Presently he is developing innovative approaches to energy issues of the future.  He has been instrumental in forming ZECA, the Zero Emission Coal Alliance, which is an industry-led effort to develop coal power with zero emissions to the atmosphere.  His recent work is on environmentally acceptable technologies for the use of fossil fuels.

Selected publications:

Klaus S. Lackner, Christopher H. Wendt, Darryl P. Butt, Edward L. Joyce and David H. Sharp, “Carbon Dioxide Disposal in Carbonate Minerals.” Energy 20, (1995), 1153–1170.

Fraser Goff and Klaus S. Lackner, “Carbon Dioxide Sequestering Using Ultramafic Rocks.” Environmental Geoscience, 5, No. 3, 1998, pp. 89-101.

Darryl P. Butt, Klaus S. Lackner, Christopher H. Wendt, Koji Nomura and Yukio Yanagisawa, “The Importance of and a Method for Disposing of Carbon Dioxide in a Thermodynamically Stable Form.” World Resource Review, 11, 1999, pp. 196–219.

T. M. Yegulalp, K S. Lackner H-J. Ziock, “A review of emerging technologies for sustainable use of coal for power generation.” Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Environmental Issues and Waste Management in Energy and Mineral Production. Calgary, Alberta, Canada, May 30-June 2, 2000.

Klaus Lackner and Ralph Menikoff, “Multi-Scale Linear Solvers for Very Large Systems Derived from PDEs.”  SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing 21, (2000)  pp. 1950–1968.

Klaus S. Lackner and George Zweig, “Introduction to the Chemistry of Fractionally Charged Atoms: Electronegativity.” Phys. Rev. D 28 (1983) 1671.

R. Menikoff, K. S. Lackner, N.L. Johnson, S.A. Colgate, J.M. Hyman and G.A. Miranda, “Shock Wave Driven by a Phased Implosion.” Phys. Fluids. A3(1), January 1991, pp. 201–218.

Klaus S. Lackner, Charles D. Hendrick, Martin L. Perl and Gordon Shaw, “Efficient Bulk Search for Fractional Charge with Multiplexed Millikan Chamber” Measurement Science and Technology, 5 (1994) 337–347.

Klaus S. Lackner, Christopher H. Wendt, “Exponential Growth of Large Self-Reproducing Machine Systems.” Mathematical and Computer Modelling 21, (1995), 55–81.

Klaus S. Lackner, Hans-J. Ziock and Patrick Grimes. “Carbon Dioxide Extraction from Air: Is it an Option?” Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Coal Utilization & Fuel Systems. Clearwater, Florida, March 8-11, 1999. pp. 885–896.