Vladimir Vernadsky

About Vladimir Vernadsky

Who is it?: Mineralogist
Birth Year: 1863
Birth Place: Saint Petersburg, Russian
Died On: 6 January 1945 (aged 81)\nMoscow, Soviet Union
Birth Sign: Aries
Residence: Russian Empire Ukrainian State Soviet Union
Alma mater: Saint Petersburg State University
Known for: Noosphere Biogeochemistry
Fields: Geology, crystallography, mineralogy, geochemistry, nuclear geology, biology, biogeochemistry, philosophy
Institutions: Moscow State University National Academy of Science of Ukraine Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technologies
Influences: Vasily Dokuchaev

Vladimir Vernadsky Net Worth

Vladimir Vernadsky was born on 1863 in Saint Petersburg, Russian, is Mineralogist. Valdimir Vernadsky was a renowned Russian-Ukrainian mineralogist who introduced the concept of noosphere or the sphere of human cognizance. Born into a family of educators, he developed an interest in natural sciences at an early age. His interest in mineralogy was sparked by the works of soil scientist Vasily Dokuchaev and geologist Alexey Pavlov. He started his academic career working under famed mineralogist Paul Groth, who classified minerals on the basis of their chemical compositions and crystal structures. Working under Paul he was introduced to crystallography and studied in detail the structure and composition of aluminosilicates. He also explored the effect of geological forces in formation of compound in the earth’s crust. He laid the foundations for development of geochemistry through his studies on radioactivity and how it can be used as a source of thermal energy. His breakthrough contribution was however, the theory of interdependence of geosphere, biosphere and noosphere. His ideas were criticised but he continued his research and became a pioneer of environmental sciences. As a proponent of alternative source of energy, he strongly advised against exploitation of nuclear power, in particular nuclear weaponisation. To know more about the life and works of this erudite geochemist read on
Vladimir Vernadsky is a member of Scientists

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Vladimir Vernadsky images

Famous Quotes:

...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 those chemical reactions which took place at various points on earth; these reactions take place according to laws which are known to us, but which, we are allowed to think, are closely tied to general changes which the earth has undergone by the earth with the general laws of celestial mechanics. I believe there is hidden here still more to discover when one considers the complexity of chemical elements and the regularity of their occurrence in groups...

Biography/Timeline

1883

While trying to find a topic for his doctorate, he first went to Naples to study under crystallographer Arcangelo Scacchi, who was senile by that time. Scacchi's condition led Vernadsky to go to Germany to study under Paul Groth. Vernadsky learned to use Groth's modern equipment, who had developed a machine to study the optical, thermal, elastic, magnetic and electrical properties of crystals. He also gained access to the physics lab of Leonhard Sohncke (Direktor, Physikalisches Institut der Universität Jena, 1883–1886; Professor der Physik an der Technischen Hochschule München 1886 -1897), who was studying crystallisation during that period.

1887

Vernadsky's son George Vernadsky (1887–1973) emigrated to the United States where he published numerous books on medieval and modern Russian history.

1888

Vernadsky was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, on 12 March [O.S. 28 February] 1863 in family of the native Kiev residents Russian-Ukrainian Economist Ivan Vernadsky and music instructor Hanna Konstantynovych. According to family legend, his father was a descendent of Zaporozhian Cossacks. He had been a professor of political economy in Kiev before moving to Saint Petersburg. His mother was a Russian noblewoman of Ukrainian Cossack descent. Vernadsky graduated from Saint Petersburg State University in 1885. As the position of mineralogist in Saint Petersburg State University was vacant, and Vasily Dokuchaev, a soil scientist, and Alexey Pavlov, a Geologist, had been teaching Mineralogy for a while, Vernadsky chose to enter Mineralogy. He wrote to his wife Natasha on 20 June 1888 from Switzerland:

1905

Vernadsky participated in the First General Congress of the zemstvos, held in Petersburg on the eve of the 1905 revolution to discuss how best to pressure the government to the needs of the Russian society; became a member of the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party (KD); and served in parliament, resigning to protest the Tsar's proroguing of the Duma. He served as professor and later as vice rector of Moscow University, from which he also resigned in 1911 in protest over the government's reactionary policies. After the February revolution of 1917, he served on several commissions of agriculture and education of the provisional government, including as assistant minister of education.

1911

Vernadsky first popularized the concept of the noosphere and deepened the idea of the biosphere to the meaning largely recognized by today's scientific community. The word 'biosphere' was invented by Austrian Geologist Eduard Suess, whom Vernadsky met in 1911.

1912

Vernadsky was a member of the Russian and Soviet Academies of Sciences since 1912 and was a founder and first President of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev, Ukraine (1918). He was a founder of the National Library of Ukrainian State and worked closely with the Tavrida University in Crimea. During the Russian Civil War, he hosted gatherings of the young intellectuals who later founded the émigré Eurasianism movement.

1920

Vernadsky's visionary pronouncements were not widely accepted in the West. However, he was one of the first Scientists to recognize that the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon 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.

1930

In the late 1930s and early 1940s Vernadsky played an early advisory role in the Soviet atomic bomb project, as one of the most forceful voices arguing for the exploitation of nuclear power, the surveying of Soviet uranium sources, and having nuclear fission research conducted at his Radium Institute. He died, however, before a full project was pursued.

2013

UNESCO sponsored an international scientific conference, "Globalistics-2013", at Moscow State University on October 23–25, 2013, in honor of Vernadsky's 150th birthday.