# Thomas Gold Back to [[Abiogenic Oil and the Fossil Fuel Debate]] · [[Research and Evidence]] **Role:** Astrophysicist; Western popularizer of deep-Earth gas - Wrote ["The deep, hot biosphere" (PNAS 1992)](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.89.13.6045) and the book *The Deep Hot Biosphere* (1999). - Promoted the Siljan Ring (Sweden) drilling of 1987–1990. Its small oil yield was attributed to drilling fluids ([Jeffrey & Kaplan 1989](https://doi.org/10.2118/19898-pa)). - His deep-microbial-life idea held up well ([Colman et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1701266114)); his primordial-methane idea did not. - ⚠️ Biography (Cornell; 1920–2004) from general knowledge.