Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (Russian:Владимир Иванович Вернадский),[2] also speltVolodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky (Ukrainian:Володимир Іванович Вернадський;[3][4] 12 March [O.S. 28 February] 1863 – 6 January 1945), was a Russian, Ukrainian,[5] and Sovietmineralogist andgeochemist who is considered one of the founders ofgeochemistry,biogeochemistry, andradiogeology.[1] He was one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences[6][7] (nowNational Academy of Sciences of Ukraine).[8] Vladimir Vernadsky is most noted for his 1926 bookThe Biosphere in which he inadvertently worked to popularizeEduard Suess's 1875 termbiosphere, by hypothesizing that life is the geological force that shapes the earth. In 1943 he was awarded theStalin Prize. Vernadsky's portrait is depicted on the Ukrainian ₴1,000hryvnia banknote.
Vernadsky was born inSaint Petersburg,Russian Empire, on 12 March [O.S. 28 February] 1863 in the family of the nativeKyiv residents Russian Imperial economist Ivan Vernadsky and Anna Konstantinovich, who came from an old Russia noble family.[9][10] According to family legend, his father's ancestors wereZaporozhian Cossacks.[11] Ivan Vernadsky had been a professor ofpolitical economy inKyiv at theSt. Vladimir University before moving to Saint Petersburg; then he was anActive State Councillor and worked in theGoverning Senate in St. Petersburg. Ivan was a Russian Imperial economist and the editor of a liberal journal which opposed censorship and serfdom, while Anna Konstantinovic was a music instructor as well as a Russian noblewoman of Ukrainian Cossack descent.[12][13][14]Vladimir's mother was a Russian noblewoman.[13]
In 1868 his family relocated toKharkiv, where he continued his education, and in 1873 he entered the Kharkiv provincialgymnasium.[15] His father gifted scientific books that includingThe Origin of Species byCharles Darwin and Cosmos byAlexander Humboldt, which was his introduction to early evolutionary theory in relation to nature.[16] Along with the books, his uncle Evgraf Korolenko, a retired civil servant, mentored Vernadsky, taking him on long walks under the stars to discuss the earth and the cosmos. This introduction turned Vernadsky's attention from humanities to science.[17]Vernadsky graduated fromSaint Petersburg State University in 1885. As the position ofmineralogist inSaint Petersburg State University was vacant, andVasily Dokuchaev, a soil scientist, andAlexey Pavlov, a geologist, had been teaching Mineralogy for a while, Vernadsky chose to enter Mineralogy.
He made the decision to fill this role because the proximity to his childhood home allowed him to care for his recently widowed mother.[18] This influenced Vernadsky's decision to specialize in mineralogy. Vernadsky went on to study as faculty atSaint Petersburg State University in the Physics-Mathematics program where he specialized incrystallography andmineralogy.[16] Vernadsky graduated fromSaint Petersburg State University in 1885 with a thesis on isomorphous mixtures in minerals.[19]
In 1886, Vernadsky married a woman named Natalya E. Staritskaya, although there is not much documented information on her as an individual.[18] He wrote to his wife Nataliia on 20 June 1888 from Switzerland:
To collect facts for their own sake, as many now gather facts, without a program, without a question to answer or a purpose, is not interesting. However, there is a task which someday the human mind will solve, and which is extremely interesting. Minerals are remains of those chemical reactions which took place at various times on earth; these reactions take place according to laws which are not always known to us, but which, we are allowed to think, are closely tied to general changes which the earth has undergone as a planet. The task is to connect the various phases of changes undergone by the earth with the general laws of celestial mechanics.[20]
In 1888–1890, he traveled through Europe, studying the museums of Paris and London, and worked in Munich and Paris.[21] During this time, he studied in Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and Italy and studying the museums of Paris and London, and worked in Munich and Paris.[22][23] While abroad, he studied underHenry Le Chatelier,Paul Von Groth, andFerdinand André Fouqué, supporting his decision to focus his studies in crystallography and minerology.[23] While trying to find a topic for his doctorate, he first went toNaples to study undercrystallographerArcangelo Scacchi, who wassenile by that time. Scacchi's condition led Vernadsky to go to Germany to study underPaul Groth, curator of minerals in theDeutsches Museum in Munich. Vernadsky learned to use Groth's modern equipment, which included a machine to study theoptical,thermal,elastic,magnetic and electrical properties ofcrystals. He also gained access to the physics lab ofLeonhard Sohncke (Direktor,Physikalisches Institut der Universität Jena, 1883–1886; Professor der Physik an der Technischen Hochschule München 1886–1897), who was studyingcrystallisation during that period. In the year 1888, Vernadsky had the opportunity to attend the 4thInternational Geological Congress held in London before moving on to study under Fouqué and Chatelier in Paris.[24] In 1889, whenDokuchaev declined to attend, Vernadsky took over the World Exhibition in Paris on his behalf.[25] His exhibit featured a display on Russian soils where he earned a gold medal for his organization and presentation.[25]
In his childhood, his father had a huge influence on his development, he very carefully and consistently engaged in the upbringing and education of his son. It was he who instilled in Volodymyr interest and love for the Ukrainian people, their history and culture. The future scientist recalled that before moving from Kharkiv to St. Petersburg, he and his father were abroad and in Milan, they read about a circular inPyotr Lavrov's newspaper "Forward" that forbade printing in Ukrainian in Russia. In his memoirs, he wrote:
This made a huge impression on my father, and the conversations related to this had a strong effect on me at the time. My father told the history of Ukraine in a completely different way than it was taught in the gymnasium. He often mentioned that Petersburg was built on the bones of Ukrainians (Cossacks from Ivan Mazepa's regiments built Petersburg). After returning to St. Petersburg, I tried to familiarize myself with Ukrainian literature. In his father's library, he found scattered issues of Osnovy and other Ukrainian publications. Obtained Ukrainian books from second-hand booksellers, and received some from abroad. He asked his father in detail about Shevchenko, Kulish, Maksymovich, Kvitka-Osnovianenko, whom he knew personally, as well as about the Cyril-Methodiev brotherhood, about Kostomarov, etc.
In St. Petersburg, a 15-year-old boy noted in his diary on 29 March 1878:[28][29][30][31][27][32]
Ukrainians are terribly oppressed. Even in Austria, Drahomanov was not allowed to publish a newspaper in Ukrainian. In Russia, it is completely forbidden to print books in my native language. During the holidays, I will take care of her with all respect. In Kyiv, when a portrait of Shevchenko is seen in a house, it is taken away.
Vernadsky participated in the First General Congress of thezemstvos, held in Petersburg on the eve of the1905 Russian Revolution to discuss how best to pressure the government to the needs of the Russian society; became a member of the liberalConstitutional Democratic Party (KD); and served in parliament, resigning to protest theTsar's proroguing of the Duma. He served as professor and later as vice rector ofMoscow University, from which he also resigned in 1911 in protest over the government's reactionary policies[citation needed].
After the war of 1914–1915 we will have to make known and accountable the natural productive forces of our country, i.e. first of all to find means for broad scientific investigations of Russia's nature and for the establishment of a network of well-equipped research laboratories, museums and institutions ... This is no less necessary than the need for an improvement in the conditions of our civil and political life, which is so acutely perceived by the entire country.[34]
After theFebruary Revolution of 1917, he served on several commissions of agriculture and education of the provisional government, including as assistant minister of education.[35]
Vladimir Vernadsky had dual "Russian–Ukrainian" identity[5] and considered the Ukrainian culture as part of Russian imperial culture,[36] and even declined to become a Ukrainian citizen in 1918.[36]
In 1898, Vernadsky moved to Moscow in order to teach at Moscow University. As head of the mineralogical office, he had the opportunity to restore the Freyesleben collection where he fully cataloged and systemized it.[25] During his work as a professor at Moscow University, he conducted 65 field excursions across Russia with students to Siberia, Urals, Caucasus, and Crimea.[25]
Through his work, Vernadsky first popularized the concept of thenoosphere and deepened the idea of thebiosphere to the meaning largely recognized by today's scientific community. The word 'biosphere' was invented by Austrian geologistEduard Suess, whom Vernadsky met in 1911.
In Vernadsky's theory of the Earth's development, the noosphere is the third stage in the earth's development, after thegeosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as theemergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of humancognition will fundamentally transform the biosphere. In this theory, the principles of both life and cognition are essential features of the Earth'sevolution and must have been implicit in the earth all along.
Vernadsky's visionary pronouncements were not widely accepted in the West. However, he was one of the first scientists to recognize that theoxygen,nitrogen andcarbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere result from biological processes. During the 1920s he published works arguing that living organisms could reshape the planets as surely as any physical force. Vernadsky was an important pioneer of the scientific bases for the environmental sciences.[37]
In the late 1930s and early 1940s Vernadsky played an early advisory role in theSoviet atomic bomb project, as one of the most forceful voices arguing for the exploitation ofnuclear power, the surveying of Sovieturanium sources, and havingnuclear fission research conducted at his Radium Institute. He died, however, before a full project was pursued.
UNESCO sponsored an international scientific conference, "Globalistics-2013", at Moscow State University on 23–25 October 2013, in honor of Vernadsky's 150th birthday.
Vernadsky was born into a Ukrainian family of intellects and progressives. His grandfather was a military doctor, who was honored by Napoleon for his humanitarianism, and his father freed his serfs before serfdom was officially abolished.[42] Throughout Vernadsky's life, there were many influential moments that led to many of his important philosophical and scientific beliefs that paved the way for the biogeochemistry, minerology, and chemistry that exists today. Vernadsky's father's background in politics encouraged Vernadsky's own interests in humanistic and interdisciplinary perspectives in scientific fields, and was a big reason why this was his first choice of study before he made his way to minerology.[16] In addition to his father's background, the gift of the scientific books from him to Vernadsky was also his first introduction to evolutionary theory and the interconnectedness of nature.[16] His upbringing was immersed in his Ukrainian culture, as he was surrounded by the music from his mother, and the intellectual discussion with his uncle and father.[42] While at school at St. Petersburg, Vernadsky was engaged in student activism and was even a part of the Priyutino Brotherhood, which emphasized ethical living and societal reform.[42]
When Vernadsky was teaching at Moscow University in 1891, the link between biology and biochemistry was made to inspire his theories in the biogeochemistry realm.[16] His work with various collections, such as the Freyesleben collection, helped to advance the way that collections had been previously organized. His methods transitions this organization from a description classification, to a mechanism and deeper chemical explanation classification.[43] This new organization strategy emphasized Vernadsky's personal view that the Earth's crust is a massive chemical laboratory forming minerals.[43]
Vernadksy was not shy to participating in politics.[16] Close friendships with those involved in revolutionary groups, such as those ofIvan Pokhitonov, also helped to expose him to different political ideas and underground literature.[42] Vernadsky was in the opinion that society could be improved through science and that it must not be kept hidden and isolated from the public.[42] His philosophies reflected this sentiment and they smoothly integrated natural science, philosophy, and ethics together, promoting freedom of thought and intellectual change.[42] Throughout his life and career, Vernadsky emphasized this idea of sharing scientific thought and knowledge as he remained deeply connected to different universities with the main goal and supporting and mentoring young scientists.[42] He was in the strongest belief that the key to national progress and reform was through the support of academic institutions.[42]
Dnevniki. Mart 1921-avgust 1925 (Diaries 1921–1925), Moscow,Nauka, 1998,ISBN5-02-004422-9, 213 pp.
Dnevniki 1926–1934 (Diaries 1926–1934), Moscow, Nauka, 2001,ISBN5-02-004409-1, 455 pp.
Dnevniki 1935–1941 v dvukh knigakh. Kniga 1, 1935–1938 (Diaries 1935–1941 in two volumes. Volume 1, 1935–1938), Moscow, Nauka, 2006,ISBN5-02-033831-1,444 pp.
Dnevniki 1935–1941 v dvukh knigakh. Kniga 2, 1939–1941 (Diaries 1935–1941. Volume 2, 1939–1941), Moscow, Nauka, 2006,ISBN5-02-033832-X, 295 pp.
^"Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky".European Geosciences Union (EGU). Archived fromthe original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved22 March 2022.Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky was a Ukrainian-Russian scientist
^abBassin, M.; Glebov, S.; Laruelle, M. (17 July 2015).Between Europe and Asia: The Origins, Theories, and Legacies of Russian Eurasianism. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 288.All the evidence we have suggest that the Vernadskys likely belonged to the small group of ethnic Ukrainians who had dual "Russian – Ukrainian" identity. ... There is general consensus among scholars that from very early on Vladimir Vernadsky (who, although born in St. Petersburg, did live as a young boy with his parents in Kharkiv, Ukraine) was conscious of his Ukrainian origin. He maintained a keen interest in Ukrainian affairs after he moved to St. Petersburg and Moscow, and during the decade proceeding the Russian revolution participated in all of the important debates on the "Ukrainian question" in his dual capacity of prominent academic and influential politician.
^Samson, Paul R.; Pitt, David C. (1999).The Biosphere and Noosphere Reader: Global Environment, Society, and Change. London: Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-16644-7.
^"Родословная В. И. Вернадского".Государственный геологический музей им. В. И. Вернадского РАН.Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved6 October 2022.
^abВ.В. Томазов. Генеалогія В.І. Вернадського: походження та родинні зв'язкиtr. V.V. Tomasov. Genealogy V.I. Vernadsky: a voyage of motherland
^"Родословная В. И. Вернадского".Государственный геологический музей им. В. И. Вернадского РАН.Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved6 October 2022.
^Josephson P., Dronin N., Mnatsakanyan R., Cherp A., Efremenko D., Larin A. (2013)An Environmental History of Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 54–57.ISBN9781139021043.doi:10.1017/CBO9781139021043
^Weart, S.R. (2003)The Discovery of Global Warming, Cambridge, Harvard Press
^See Vernadsky's diaries in the "Works" section, summarized in Sergei Glebov. "Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States" inRussian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States: Proceedings of a Conference in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture (Slavic and East European Information Resources, Volume 4, Number 4 2003), eds. Jared S. Ingersoll and Tanya Chebotarev, The Haworth Press, 2003,ISBN0-7890-2405-5 p. 29
^Margulis, Lynn;Sagan, Dorion (2000).What Is Life?. University of California Press. p. 170.ISBN978-0-520-22021-8.Both the French paleontologist-priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the Russian atheist Vladimir Vernadsky agreed that Earth is developing a global mind.
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