The Cycle of Life:
An History of Experimental Ecology

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Case 2

Vladimir Vernadsky, Biosphera i Noosphera (The Biosphere and Noosphere) (Moskva: Airis Press, 2003).

Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945) is probably one of the most well-known Russian/Soviet scientists, even in the West. Having worked on radiation, crystallography, and founded the science of biogeochemistry, he contributed novel ideas about the make-up and functioning of our planet. Two of his most famous ideas are a scientific understanding of the "Biosphere"--the thin strata where life exists on the Earth and the "Noosphere"--the realm of the activity of human thought.
Working with Theilard de Chardin and other philosophers, Vernadsky came to understand humanity as another form of life establishing itself as a geological force. He elaborated on these ideas in his The Biosphere and Noosphere, where he addressed the ability of humans to transfer elements and concentrate them in the biosphere to an unprecedented extent. He described the Noosphere as "the final stage in the evolution of the biosphere being driven by humanity as the dominate force." He also believed "in the strength of human reason" and that scientific thought would overcome the negative results of technogenesis and would secure "the rational transformation (and not annihilation) of the natural components of the biosphere." This would satisy mankind's increasing material and spiritual demands.

Case 1
  William Paley, Natural Theology, 1794
  Carl Linnaeus, Nemesis Divina, 1758
  George Gregory, The Economy of Nature, 1804
 Case 2
  Vladimir Vernadsky, Biosphere and Noosphere, 1939
  Pierre Teilard de Chardin, Human Energy, 1969
  Pierre Teilard de Chardin, The Heart of Matter, 1978
Case 3
  John Neale Dalton, The Book of Common Prayer, 1920
  Joan Halifax, The Fruitful Darkness, 1993
  Hans Dirk van Hoogstraten, Deep Economy, 2001
  Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan, The Garden of Microbial Delights, 1993
  Nina Witoszek and Andrew Brennan, eds., Philosophical Dialogues, 1999
  Roger S. Gottlieb, ed., This
Sacred Earth
, 2004
Lloyd Ackert
Whitney Humanities Center
Yale University
53 Wall Street
P.O. Box 208298
New Haven, CT 06520
Office: (203).432.3112

lloydackert@sbcglobal.net

The exhibit is located in three cases in the rotunda on the first floor of the Divinity Library. The library is at:

409 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Phone: (203) 432-5290

Circulation Email: Divlib.Circdesk@Yale.edu
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