Hans Landsberg, 88; Economist, Expert in Energy Data Analysis
Hans Landsberg, 88, economist who pioneered the collection of data on energy resources and costs, died Sunday in Washington, D.C., of complications of Parkinson’s disease.
A native of East Prussia who grew up in Berlin, Landsberg fled the Nazis in 1933 and earned a degree at the London School of Economics. After receiving a master’s degree at Columbia University in New York, he served as an intelligence officer in Italy with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services.
After the war, Landsberg advised various government agencies, and in 1960 he joined the Washington-based Resources for the Future think tank.
Expert in the economics related to energy and mineral resources, he was instrumental in the 1979 landmark study “Energy: The Next Twenty Years.” That study set the standard for what has become routine and systematic collection and analysis of data on energy supplies and needs.
Landsberg had earned national attention for co-authoring “Resources in America’s Future” in 1963. That study served as a blueprint for projecting long-term requirements and availability of energy, minerals, land, water and other resources.
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