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Ecology Revisited pp 333–347Cite as

Looking at Russian Ecology Through the Biosphere Theory

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Abstract

The biosphere theory is crucial for all environmental sciences including scientific ecology. In Russia, the theory was from the very beginning a powerful factor affecting global and other holistic approaches in the life sciences. The theory was invented by Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863–1945), who is regarded as one of the most famous Russian naturalists. In the history of Russian science he is referred to as a “savant” and influential thinker in rather different fields such as biogeochemistry, radiogeology, or crystallography, and also philosophy of science. In recent times Vernadsky is becoming appreciated also in the Western world. James Lovelock, author of the Gaia-theory, wrote: “We discovered him to be our most illustrious predecessor” (Lovelock 1986).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Vernadsky was a member of this Association since 1889.

  2. 2.

    Vernadsky was born in the capital of the Russian Empire Sankt-Petersburg into the family of Ivan Vernadsky (1821–1884), a professor of economics and statistics in the Alexandrovsky Lyce, the elite college-like school, where, for example, the best known Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was educated.

  3. 3.

    Vernadsky began the work on the “Scientific Thought as a planetary Phenomenon” (the book I quote here) in the late 1930s. The book was published in an uncensored form only in 1991. In 1997 appeared the English translation.

  4. 4.

    Timofeév-Ressovsky – who coined a somewhat awkward term “vernadskology” – wasn’t a direct pupil of Vernadsky, although he met him two times in Berlin in the mid of 1920s (Timofeév-Ressovsky 1995).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. History of Science & Technology Program, University of King’s College, 6350 Coburg Rd., Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 2A1

    Georgy S. Levit

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  1. Georgy S. Levit
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Correspondence to Georgy S. Levit .

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  1. Institute of Philosophy, Technical University of Darmstadt, Schloss, Darmstadt, 64283, Germany

    Astrid Schwarz

  2. , Department of Conservation Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Resea, Permoserstr. 15, Leipzig, 04318, Germany

    Kurt Jax

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Levit, G.S. (2011). Looking at Russian Ecology Through the Biosphere Theory. In: Schwarz, A., Jax, K. (eds) Ecology Revisited. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9744-6_24

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