Albert Allen Bartlett

Bartlett received a B.A. in physics at Colgate University (1944), and an M.A. (1948) and Ph.D. (1951) in physics at Harvard University. Bartlett joined the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder in September 1950. In 1978 he was national president of the American Association of Physics Teachers. He was a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1969 and 1970 he served two terms as the elected chair of the four-campus faculty council at the university. He won the Robert A. Millikan award.[5]

Graph showing human population growth

Chart showing change in oil prices since the 19th century. The top curve is inflation-adjusted.

World population from 1800 to 2100, based on UN 2004 projections[6] (red, orange, green) and US Census Bureau historical estimates[7] (black)

Bartlett viewed sustainable growth as a contradiction. His view was that modest percentage growth will equate to huge escalations over relatively short periods of time.[8]

Over time, Bartlett argued, compound growth can yield enormous increases. For example, an investor earning a constant annual 7% return on their investment would find his or her capital doubling within 10 years. He applied the same exponential power to human population, and argued this would have calamitous results. He argued that a population of 10,000 individuals, if it were to grow at a constant rate of 7% per annum, would reach a population size of 10 million after 100 years.[9]

Bartlett regarded what he viewed as the failure to understand exponential growth as "The Greatest Challenge" facing humanity, and promoted sustainable living; he was an early advocate on the topic of overpopulation. He opposed the cornucopian school of thought (as advocated by people such as Julian Lincoln Simon), and referred to it as "The New Flat Earth Society".[10]

J. B. Calvert (1999) has proposed that Bartlett's law[11] will result in the exhaustion of petrochemical resources caused by exponential growth of the world population (in line with the Malthusian Growth Model).

Bartlett made statements relating to sustainability:

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

and his Great Challenge:

"Can you think of any problem in any area of human endeavor on any scale, from microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted, or advanced by further increases in population, locally, nationally, or globally?"

Bartlett died on September 7, 2013, at the age of 90.[5]

• The Essential Exponential For the Future of Our Planet a collection of essays by Professor Bartlett (2004). Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. ISBN 0-9758973-0-6 [12]

In August 2013, a month before Bartlett's death, the Environmental Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder offered training on giving his presentation; the team "came together because they believe so strongly in Dr. Bartlett's message and want to ensure it continues to be delivered well into the future".[13]

• M. King Hubbert, author of the Hubbert Curve.
• Thomas Robert Malthus – the originator of the Malthusian catastrophe argument
• Peak oil

• Professor talks at an exponential rate, Energy Bulletin article by Todd Neff. Retrieved July 2011

• Albert Allen Bartlett at IMDb
• 2008 Video interview with Albert Bartlett by Atomic Heritage Foundation Voices of the Manhattan Project
• Professor Bartlett's website contains background, articles, book "The Essential Exponential", and links to his talk, "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy". Retrieved July 2011
• Professor Bartlett's page at the University of Colorado Retrieved July 2011
• Biography of Dr Bartlett Archived 2013-06-03 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 2011
• "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" by Professor Albert Bartlett Free audio and video 57 minute lecture. Retrieved July 2011
• "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" by Professor Albert Bartlett Text of lecture (extracts). Retrieved July 2011
• Analysis of Bartlett's "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" presentation – Exponentialist website. Retrieved July 2011
• Is There a Population Problem? Ecofuture website. Retrieved July 2011
• The Massive Movement to Marginalise the Modern Malthusian Message article by Professor Bartlett. Retrieved July 2011
• Thoughts on Long-term Energy Supplies - Scientists and the Silent Lie article on energy and population in Physics Today (2004). Retrieved July 2011
• Clean Coal Technology Speech by Andrew McNamara MP on clean coal and report by Professor Bartlett
• Arithmetic, Population & Energy, Part I on YouTube (Part 1 of 8), (parts 2-4 are linked). Retrieved July 2011
• Arithmetic, Population & Energy, Part II on YouTube (Part 5 of 8), (parts 6-8 are linked). Retrieved July 2011
• Arithmetic, Population & Energy @Google (entire video). Retrieved July 2011
• Lecture by Professor Bartlett about the exponential function @Vimeo. Retrieved December 2013
• hour-long interview with Professor Bartlett by CU Outreach @Vimeo. Retrieved December 2013
• BLIND SPOT, Documentary, Population & Energy. Retrieved July 2011