Les Magoon is currently a Consulting Professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University. He worked 8 years for Shell Oil Company in exploration and 30 years with the U.S. Geological Survey. Presently, he is an Emeritus Scientist with the USGS. From 1981, he has investigated and popularized the petroleum system through talks, courses, and AAPG Memoir 60, The Petroleum System: From Source to Trap, which received the R.H. Dott. Sr. Award in 1996.