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James
Lovelock, An Homage to Gaia, 1985
One of the most recent extrapolations of the concept of the
“cycle of life” is the Gaia, or Living Earth theory.
Beginning in 1970, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis developed
a scientific understanding of how the earth operates as a self-regulating
living system. Lovelock contributed his research on the earth’s
atmosphere, in which he developed the holistic view that microbes,
plants, and animals constantly metabolize matter into energy,
converting sunlight into nutrients, and emitting and absorbing
gas. To the theory, Margulis contributed her deep understanding
of microbial ecology, and especially of the role that microbial
communities play in the Gaian ecosystem. Although the two disagree
somewhat as the relative importance of Vernadsky and Hutchinson
in the history of science, both studied their work carefully. |
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Erasmus
Darwin, Zoonomia, 1793 |
Charles
Darwin, On the Formation of Vegetable Matter by Worms, 1881 |
Alexander
von Humboldt, Cosmos, 1858 |
Dumas
and Boussingault, Balance of Organic Matter, 1844 |
Ferdinand
Cohn, Bacteria, The Smallest Living Beings, 1872 |
Louis
Pasteur, Etudes sur la Biere, 1862 |
Selman
Waksman, Sergei Winogradsky, 1953 |
Selman
Waksman, Humus, 1939 |
Vladimir
Vernadsky, Principles of Biogeochemistry, 1960 |
James
Lovelock, An Homage to Gaia, 1985 |
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Lloyd
Ackert
Whitney Humanities Center
Yale University
53 Wall Street
P.O. Box 208298
New Haven, CT 06520-8298
Office: (203).432.3112
lloydackert@sbcglobal.net |
The
Sterling Memorial Exhibit is located in the Overflow Case
to the left of the circulation desk. The Sterling Memorial
Library is located at
120 High Street
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520
Map, Directions
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