During graduation ceremonies at the Colorado School of Mines in May 1952, I was called to receive an award "for high scholastic achievement." As I went down the aisle to receive this surprise award, I overheard someone say, "There is someone who will become involved in scientific research." I didn’t think much about this remark until I received a Ph.D. from Stanford University nine years later, and embarked on a career in research in organic geochemistry, first with Mobil Oil Company, then NASA, and finally with the USGS.

At Mobil Oil Company, I acquired extensive knowledge of organic geochemistry, particularly petroleum geochemistry. Much of what I learned at Mobil during my four-year tenure has been very useful during the course of my 40-year career.

At NASA’s Ames Research Center my research in organic geochemistry resulted in discoveries concerning the organic chemistry of extraterrestrial materials. These discoveries gave me the greatest satisfaction of my career in that the work resulted in the first solid geochemical evidence for the theory of chemical evolution, an idea that tries to explain the origin of life on earth and elsewhere. While at NASA, I was involved with the Apollo Program (exploration of the moon) and the Viking Program (exploration of Mars). During the Apollo Program, I was faced with the most difficult and trying challenge of my career which entailed developing contamination-free methodology for application to returned lunar samples. The Viking Program yielded little professional satisfaction because all critical experiments were conducted remotely on the surface of Mars instead of in a hands-on laboratory. The diminished professional satisfaction caused me to leave NASA after 10 years and join the USGS.

With the USGS I developed a program in marine organic geochemistry. Taking organic geochemistry to sea proved difficult, but this difficulty resulted in a project to examine gases in marine sediments, because analysis of gases could be accomplished fairly well on a ship at sea. The finding of hydrocarbon gases in marine sediments around the Pacific Basin led to the realization that the most abundant reservoir of hydrocarbon gases, mainly methane, is in the form of a solid, water-gas substance called "gas hydrate." I have pursued research on gas hydrate since 1979 because it is scientifically fascinating in its multidisciplinary aspects. Gas hydrate is the subject of my highly cited 1993 paper, which was written to try to make current knowledge of naturally occurring gas hydrate understandable. At the time, I did not expect this work to become so highly cited, although I felt it was a good paper. In retrospect, however, it is evident that the work captured the scientific imagination of many investigators and certainly helped develop interest in the field.

There are two qualities that characterize my research career, perspicacity and pertinacity—being lucky and being persistent. But decisions must be made so that luck has a chance, and one must ignore the distractions that prevent continuous attention to the problem at hand. If I had the power, I would change the emphasis of current research from customer-driven to problem-driven. If research is directed only to the customers’ needs, then the status quo will characterize methods and approaches. Although customer-driven research is necessary, it is not an end-point. An important component in on-going research should be envisioning new problems and new solutions so that eventually the new will supplant the old. Customers of the future will benefit from new advances, rather than have their problems addressed by the application of outmoded ideas, antiquated approaches, and obsolescent technologies.

Keith A. Kvenvolden, Ph.D.
USGS
Menlo Park, CA, USA