Oil in the Mind:  The Nineteenth Century Context of Petroleum Geology

Brian Frehner's presentation focused on how the discovery of Drake’s well in 1859 marked the beginning of the modern oil industry. Never before had Americans extracted oil from the earth by drilling for it, and this new approach offered new opportunities for business men who could locate underground reserves. Although a systematic approach to finding oil was first articulated in 1836, the oil industry was slow to respond. Frehner, Ph.D. candidate-University of Oklahoma, argued that the oil industry’s slow response lay in the intellectual and professional contexts of petroleum geology during the nineteenth century. 

Mr. Frehner's lecture was held Thursday, October 11, 2001, in the American Heritage Center's Stock Growers' Room (Centennial Complex, 2111 Willett Drive, University of Wyoming) followed by a reception in the Loggia.	Brian Frehner