People like Vaclav Smil

Vaclav Smil (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈsmɪl]; born 9 December 1943) is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass a broad area of energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies. He has also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.

Smil was born during WWII in Plzeň, at that time in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic). His father was a police officer and his mother a bookkeeper. Growing up in a remote mountain town in the Plzeň Region, Smil cut wood daily to keep the home heated. This provided an early lesson in energy efficiency and density.