Editing Vladimir Vernadsky

{{Short description|Soviet geochemist (1863–1945)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_name        = Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky
| image             = 1934-V I Vernadsky.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Vernadsky in 1934
| birth_date        = {{OldStyleDate|12 March|1863|28 February}}<ref name="brit">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Ivanovich-Vernadsky Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky]. Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref>
| birth_place       = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russian Empire]]<ref name=brit/>
| death_date        = 6 January 1945 (aged 81)<ref name=brit/>
| death_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]<ref name=brit/>
| resting_place     = [[Novodevichy Cemetery]], Moscow
| nationality       = <!-- [[Russian Empire]] -->
| field             = Geology, [[crystallography]], [[mineralogy]], [[geochemistry]], [[radiogeology]], [[biology]], [[biogeochemistry]], philosophy
| work_institutions = [[Moscow University]] Professor<br/>[[National Academy of Science of Ukraine]]<br/>[[Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University]]<br/>[[Moscow State University of Fine Chemical Technologies|Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technologies]]
| alma_mater        = [[Saint Petersburg Imperial University]]
| education         = [[Doctor of Science]] <small>(1897)</small>
| thesis_title      = Slip phenomena of crystalline matter
| known_for         = [[Noosphere]]<br/>[[Biogeochemistry]]
| signature         = Vernadsky Vladimir Ivanovich signature.png
}}

'''Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Владимир Иванович Вернадский}}),<ref name=":12222">{{Cite web |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky |url=https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/portrait-vladimir-ivanovich-vernadsky/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023164844/https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/portrait-vladimir-ivanovich-vernadsky/ |archive-date=23 October 2021 |access-date=22 March 2022 |website=European Geosciences Union (EGU) |language=en-GB |quote=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky was a Ukrainian-Russian scientist}}</ref> also spelt '''Volodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky''' ({{langx|uk|Володимир Іванович Вернадський}};<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vernadsky, Volodymyr |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CV%5CE%5CVernadskyVolodymyr.htm |access-date=22 April 2022 |website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Denis |first=Pishniak |title=History of Akademik Vernadsky Station |url=http://uac.gov.ua/en/vernadsky-station-en/station-history-en/ |access-date=22 April 2022 |website=UAC |language=en-GB}}</ref> {{OldStyleDate|12 March|1863|28 February}} – 6 January 1945), was a Russian, Ukrainian,<ref name="University of Pittsburgh Press">{{cite book |last1=Bassin |first1=M. |title=Between Europe and Asia: The Origins, Theories, and Legacies of Russian Eurasianism |last2=Glebov |first2=S. |last3=Laruelle |first3=M. |date=17 July 2015 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |pages=288 |quote=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.}}</ref> and Soviet [[mineralogist]] and [[geochemist]] who is considered one of the founders of [[geochemistry]], [[biogeochemistry]], and [[radiogeology]].<ref name=brit/> He was one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Honoring Vladimir Vernadsky: Russian-Ukrainian Scientist's 150th Year Wraps Up |url=http://archive.larouchepac.com/node/30145 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203094351/http://archive.larouchepac.com/node/30145 |archive-date=3 February 2015 |access-date=22 March 2022|quote=Vernadsky was a patriot of both Ukraine and Russia}}</ref><ref>[http://slovopedia.org.ua/29/53394/7629.html Верна́дський Володи́мир Іва́нович]. Універсальний Словник-Енциклопедія</ref> (now [[National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]]).<ref name="the_biosphere_and_noosphere_reader_a02">{{Cite book |last1=Samson |first1=Paul R. |title=The Biosphere and Noosphere Reader: Global Environment, Society, and Change |last2=Pitt |first2=David C. |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-415-16644-7 |location=London}}</ref> Vladimir Vernadsky is most noted for his 1926 book ''The Biosphere'' in which he inadvertently worked to popularize [[Eduard Suess]]'s 1875 term [[biosphere]], by hypothesizing that life is the geological force that shapes the earth. In 1943 he was awarded the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]]. Vernadsky's portrait is depicted on the Ukrainian ₴1,000 [[hryvnia banknote]].

==Early life==
[[File:1889-VernadskyVI-Paris.jpg|thumb|left|Vladimir Vernadsky, Paris 1889]]
Vernadsky was born in [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russian Empire]], on {{OldStyleDate|12 March|1863|28 February}} in the family of the native [[Kyiv]] residents Russian Imperial economist Ivan Vernadsky and Anna Konstantinovich, who came from an old Russia noble family.{{sfn|Гумилевский|1988|с=}}{{full citation needed|date=May 2024}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sgm.ru/ABOUT/Rodoslovnaya.php|title=Родословная В. И. Вернадского|website=Государственный геологический музей им. В. И. Вернадского РАН|access-date=2022-10-06|archive-date=2022-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006001722/https://sgm.ru/ABOUT/Rodoslovnaya.php|url-status=live}}</ref> According to family legend, his father's ancestors were [[Zaporozhian Cossacks]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 February 2013 |script-title=uk:Книжкова виставка – «Життя, присвячене науці» – до 150-річчя від дня народження В. І. Вернадського (1863–1945) |trans-title=Book exhibition – "A life devoted to science" – the 150th anniversary of VI Vernadsky (1863–1945) |url=http://nplu.org/event.php?id=62 |access-date=17 May 2015 |publisher=Nplu.org |language=uk}}</ref> Ivan Vernadsky had been a professor of [[political economy]] in [[Kyiv]] at the [[Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv|St. Vladimir University]] before moving to Saint Petersburg; then he was an [[Active State Councillor]] and worked in the [[Governing Senate]] in St. Petersburg. Ivan was a Russian Imperial economist and editor of a censorship and serfdom opposed liberal journal and Anna Konstantinovic was a music instructor as well as a Russian noblewoman of Ukrainian Cossack descent.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Kauffman |first=George B. |date=November 1996 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), environmental pioneer: On the 70th anniversary of his Biosphere concept |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_8260 |journal=Soulh African Journal of Science |volume=92 |pages=519–523}}</ref>''<ref name="ReferenceA">В.В. Томазов. Генеалогія В.І. Вернадського: походження та родинні зв'язки ''tr. V.V. Tomasov. Genealogy V.I. Vernadsky: a voyage of motherland''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Родословная В. И. Вернадского |url=https://sgm.ru/ABOUT/Rodoslovnaya.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006001722/https://sgm.ru/ABOUT/Rodoslovnaya.php |archive-date=2022-10-06 |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=Государственный геологический музей им. В. И. Вернадского РАН}}</ref>''Vladimir's mother was a Russian noblewoman.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1868 his family relocated to [[Kharkiv]], where he continued his education, and in 1873 he entered the Kharkiv provincial gymnasium.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last=Kauffman |first=George B. |date=November 1996 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), environmental pioneer: On the 70th anniversary of his Biosphere concept |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_8260 |journal=Soulh African Journal of Science |volume=92 |pages=519–523}}</ref> His father gifted scientific books that including [[On the Origin of Species|The Origin of Species]] by [[Charles Darwin]] and Cosmos by [[Alexander von Humboldt|Alexander Humboldt]], which was his introduction to early evolutionary theory in relation to nature.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Ghilarov |first=Alexej M. |date=1995 |title=Vernadsky's Biosphere Concept: An Historical Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3036242 |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=193–203 |doi=10.1086/418982 |jstor=3036242 |issn=0033-5770}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":04">{{Cite journal |last=Kauffman |first=George B. |date=November 1996 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), environmental pioneer: On the 70th anniversary of his Biosphere concept |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_8260 |journal=Soulh African Journal of Science |volume=92 |pages=519–523}}</ref>
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 made the decision to fill this role because the proximity to his childhood home allowed him to care for his recently widowed mother.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Kautzleben |first1=Heinz |last2=Müller |first2=Axel |date=2014-12-01 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863–1945) — From mineral to noosphere |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0375674214000843 |journal=Journal of Geochemical Exploration |series=Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863-1945): A tribute to the founder of geochemistry and biogeochemistry on the 150th anniversary of his birthday |volume=147 |pages=4–10 |doi=10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.02.020 |bibcode=2014JCExp.147....4K |issn=0375-6742}}</ref> This influenced Vernadsky's decision to specialize in minerology. Vernadsky went on to study as faculty at [[Saint Petersburg State University]] in the Physics-Mathematics program where he specialized in [[crystallography]] and [[mineralogy]].<ref name=":13"/> Vernadsky graduated from [[Saint Petersburg State University]] in 1885 with a thesis on isomorphous mixtures in minerals.<ref name=":05">{{Cite journal |last=Kauffman |first=George B. |date=November 1996 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), environmental pioneer: On the 70th anniversary of his Biosphere concept |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_8260 |journal=Soulh African Journal of Science |volume=92 |pages=519–523}}</ref>

In 1886, Vernadsky married a woman named Natalya E. Staritskaya, although there is not much documented information on her as an individual.<ref name=":2" /> He wrote to his wife Nataliia on 20 June 1888 from Switzerland:{{blockquote|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.<ref>
{{Citation
| last = Tolz| first = Vera
| title = Russian Academicians and the Revolution: Combining Professionalism and Politics
| place = London, UK
| publisher = [[Palgrave Macmillan]]
| date = 1997
| page = 155
| isbn = 9781349258420}}
</ref>
}} In 1888–1890, he traveled through Europe, studying the museums of Paris and London, and worked in Munich and Paris.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Volodymyr Vernadsky, naturalist, philosopher, founder of geochemistry, biogeochemistry and radiogeology, was born; one of the founders and the first president of UAN |url=http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/node/4825|access-date=5 July 2022 |website=www.nbuv.gov.ua/}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Volodymyr Vernadsky, naturalist, philosopher, founder of geochemistry, biogeochemistry and radiogeology, was born; one of the founders and the first president of UAN |url=http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/node/4825 |access-date=5 July 2022 |website=www.nbuv.gov.ua/}}</ref><ref name=":06">{{Cite journal |last=Kauffman |first=George B. |date=November 1996 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), environmental pioneer: On the 70th anniversary of his Biosphere concept |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_8260 |journal=Soulh African Journal of Science |volume=92 |pages=519–523}}</ref>  While abroad, he studied under [[Henry Louis Le Chatelier|Henry Le Chatelier]] , [[Paul Heinrich von Groth|Paul Von Groth]], and [[Ferdinand André Fouqué]], supporting his decision to focus his studies in crystallography and minerology.<ref name=":06" /> While trying to find a topic for his doctorate, he first went to [[Naples]] to study under [[crystallography|crystallographer]] [[Arcangelo Scacchi]], who was [[Dementia|senile]] by that time. Scacchi's condition led Vernadsky to go to Germany to study under [[Paul Heinrich von Groth|Paul Groth]], curator of minerals in the [[Deutsches Museum]] in Munich. Vernadsky learned to use Groth's modern equipment, which included a machine to study the [[optical]], [[Heat|thermal]], [[elastic (solid mechanics)|elastic]], [[magnetic]] and electrical properties of [[crystal]]s. He also gained access to the physics lab of [[Leonhard Sohncke]] (Direktor, {{Lang|de|Physikalisches Institut der Universität Jena|italic=no}}, 1883–1886; Professor der Physik an der Technischen Hochschule München 1886–1897), who was studying [[Crystallization|crystallisation]] during that period. In the year 1888, Vernadsky had the opportunity to attend the 4th [[International Geological Congress]] held in London before moving on to study under Fouqué and Chatelier in Paris.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last1=Kautzleben |first1=Heinz |last2=Müller |first2=Axel |date=2014-12-01 |title=Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863–1945) — From mineral to noosphere |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0375674214000843 |journal=Journal of Geochemical Exploration |series=Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863-1945): A tribute to the founder of geochemistry and biogeochemistry on the 150th anniversary of his birthday |volume=147 |pages=4–10 |doi=10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.02.020 |bibcode=2014JCExp.147....4K |issn=0375-6742}}</ref> In 1889, when [[Vasily Dokuchaev|Dokuchaev]] declined to attend, Vernadsky took over the World Exhibition in Paris on his behalf.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Shleeva |first1=M V |last2=Savenkova |first2=V M |date=2021-10-01 |title=V. I. Vernadsky and national museums of natural science |journal=IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science |volume=867 |issue=1 |pages=012127 |doi=10.1088/1755-1315/867/1/012127 |bibcode=2021E&ES..867a2127S |issn=1755-1307|doi-access=free }}</ref> His exhibit featured a display on Russian soils where he earned a gold medal for his organization and presentation.<ref name=":3" />

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 in [[Pyotr Lavrov]]'s newspaper "Forward" that forbade printing in Ukrainian in Russia. In his memoirs, he wrote:

{{Blockquote|''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.''}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://meest-online.com/history/figure/do-150-richnoho-yuvileyu-volodymyra-vernadskoho/ | title=До 150-річного ювілею Володимира Вернадського | work=Український тижневик Міст | date=7 March 2013 }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web | url=https://ogo.ua/articles/view/2013-03-12/38801.html | title=На купюрі 1000 гривень - вчений, який працював у Рівному! &#124; ОГО }}</ref>

In St. Petersburg, a 15-year-old boy noted in his diary on 29 March 1878:

{{Blockquote|''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.''}} <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblioteka-zosh-s-bilogolovi.webnode.com.ua/novini/vernadskij-v-%D1%96-/|title=Вернадський В. І. :: Шкільна бібліотека с.Білоголови|website=biblioteka-zosh-s-bilogolovi.webnode.com.ua}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://twitter.com/history_ukraine/status/1237861113422700544 | access-date=2023-12-22 | title=History Ukraine on X}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://chornomorka.com/archive/21398/a-2209.html | title="Наша українська Наука, наша рідна Академія Наук!" }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://osvita.ua/vnz/reports/biolog/23548/ | title=Духовний світ Вернадського та Україна. Реферат | date=3 September 2011 }}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web| url=https://lib.iitta.gov.ua/912/1/%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2i%D0%B4%D1%8C_%D0%9Ai%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE.pdf | access-date=2023-12-22 | title=Доповiдь_Кiльченко | language=uk}}</ref>

==Political activities==
Vernadsky participated in the First General Congress of the [[zemstvo]]s, held in Petersburg on the eve of the [[1905 Russian 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 {{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}.

Following the advent of the [[First World War]], his proposal for the establishment of the [[Commission for the Study of the Natural Productive Forces]] (KEPS) was adopted by the [[Imperial Academy of Sciences]] in February 1915. He published ''War and the Progress of Science'' where he stressed the importance of science as regards to its contribution to the war effort:<ref name="Oldfield">{{Cite web |last=Oldfield |first=jon |title=Russian geography and the Commission for the Study of the Natural Productive Forces of Russia (KEPS), 1915–1930 |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/media/history/russianenvironment/solovki/Papers%20Oldfield%20.pdf |access-date=1 August 2020 |website=www.york.ac.uk |publisher=University of York}}</ref>

: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.<ref name="GW,RCW & BS">{{Cite journal |last=Kojevnikov |first=Alexei |date=2002 |title=The Great War, the Russian Civil War, and the Invention of Big Science |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11004684 |journal=Science in Context |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=239–275 |doi=10.1017/S0269889702000443 |pmid=12467271 |s2cid=23740816}}</ref>

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.<ref>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. {{ISBN|9781139021043}}. {{doi|10.1017/CBO9781139021043}}</ref>

Vladimir Vernadsky had dual "Russian–Ukrainian" identity<ref name="University of Pittsburgh Press"/> and considered the Ukrainian culture as part of Russian imperial culture,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/gyrych.htm|title=Ігор Гирич. Вернадський. Між російським і українським берегами|website=litopys.org.ua}}</ref> and even declined to become a Ukrainian citizen in 1918.<ref name="auto1"/>

==Scientific activities==
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.<ref name=":3" /> During his work as a professor at Moscow University, he conducted 65 field excursions across Russia with students to Siberia, Urals, Caucasus, and Crimea.<ref name=":3" />

Through his work, 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.

In Vernadsky's theory of the Earth's development, the noosphere is the third stage in the earth's development, after the [[geosphere]] (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the [[emergence]] of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human [[cognition]] will fundamentally transform the biosphere. In this theory, the principles of both life and cognition are essential features of the Earth's [[evolution]], and must have been implicit in the earth all along. This systemic and geological analysis of living systems complements [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of [[natural selection]],{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} which looks at each individual species, rather than at its relationship to a subsuming principle.

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.<ref>Weart, S.R. (2003) ''The Discovery of Global Warming,'' Cambridge, Harvard Press</ref>

Vernadsky was a member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Russian and Soviet Academies of Sciences]] since 1912 and was a founder and first president of the [[National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine|Ukrainian Academy of Sciences]] in [[Kyiv]], Ukraine (1918). He was a founder of the [[Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine|National Library of Ukrainian State]] and worked closely with the [[Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University|Tavrida University]] in [[Crimea]]. During the [[Russian Civil War]], he hosted gatherings of the young intellectuals who later founded the émigré [[Eurasianism]] movement.<ref>See Vernadsky's diaries in the "Works" section, summarized in Sergei Glebov. "Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States" in ''Russian 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,  {{ISBN|0-7890-2405-5}} p. 29</ref>

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.

On religious views, Vernadsky was an [[atheist]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Margulis |first1=Lynn |author-link=Lynn Margulis |title=What Is Life? |last2=Sagan, Dorion |author2-link=Dorion Sagan |publisher=University of California Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-520-22021-8 |page=170 |quote=Both the French paleontologist-priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the Russian atheist Vladimir Vernadsky agreed that Earth is developing a global mind.}}</ref> He was interested in [[Hinduism]] and [[Rigveda|Rig Veda]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neelakandan |first=Aravindan |date=21 February 2013 |title=Vernadsky, Noosphere and Vivekananda |url=http://centreright.in/2013/02/vernadsky-noosphere-and-vivekananda/#.VDAUHpbIbFE |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530033248/http://centreright.in/2013/02/vernadsky-noosphere-and-vivekananda/#.VDAUHpbIbFE |archive-date=30 May 2015 |access-date=17 May 2015 |publisher=Centreright.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Yuva Bharati February 2012 &#124; Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan |url=http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org/periodicals/yuvabharati/2012/february |access-date=17 May 2015 |publisher=Prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org}}</ref>

Vernadsky's son [[George Vernadsky]] (1887–1973) emigrated to the United States where he published numerous books on medieval and modern Russian history.
[[File:Vladimir Vernadsky with family 1908.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Vernadsky family in [[Poltava]] in 1908. Right-left: Vladimir, his daughter Nina, wife Nataliia and her brother Pavlo, son George.]]
The [[Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine|National Library of Ukraine]], the [[Tavrida National University]] in [[Crimea]] and many streets and avenues in Ukraine and Russia are named in honor of Vladimir Vernadsky.

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

==Family==
* Father – Ivan Vernadsky, Russian Imperial economist
* Mother – Аnna Konstantinovich, Russian music instructor
* Wife – Nataliia Yegorovna Staritskaya (married in 1887 in [[Saint Petersburg]])
* Son – [[George Vernadsky]], [[Russian Americans|American Russian]] historian, an author of numerous books on Russian history and philosophy
* Daughter – Nina Toll, Doctor-psychiatrist

== Impact of Early and Later Life Experiences on Scientific Theory ==
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 serfrom was officially abolished.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Vynohradova |first=V. Ye. |date=2020-06-30 |title=Influence of Sociocultural Factors on Formation of V. I. Vernadsky's Personal Qualities |url=https://culturehealth.org/ijsa_archive/Vol._3,ijsa_No_1,_2020-4.pdf |journal=International Journal of Science Annals |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=26–33|doi=10.26697/ijsa.2020.1.4 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":13"/> 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.<ref name=":13" /> 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.<ref name=":4" /> 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.<ref name=":4" />

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.<ref name=":13" /> 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.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Wolf |first1=Dieter |last2=Müller |first2=Axel |date=2014-12-01 |title=Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863–1945) and his 'descriptive mineralogy' |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0375674214001708 |journal=Journal of Geochemical Exploration |series=Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863-1945): A tribute to the founder of geochemistry and biogeochemistry on the 150th anniversary of his birthday |volume=147 |pages=11–15 |doi=10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.05.004 |bibcode=2014JCExp.147...11W |issn=0375-6742}}</ref> This new organization strategy emphasized Vernadsky's personal view thae the Earth's crust is a massive chemical labratory forming minerals.<ref name=":5" />

Vernadksy was not shy to participating in politics.<ref name=":13" /> Close friendships with those involved in revolutionary groups, such as those of [[Ivan Pokhitonov]], also helped to expose him to different political ideas and underground literature.<ref name=":4" /> 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.<ref name=":4" /> His philosophies reflected this sentiment and they smoothly integrated natural science, philosophy, and ethics together, promoting freedom of thought and intellectual change.<ref name=":4" /> 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.<ref name=":4" /> He was in the strongest belief that the key to national progress and reform was through the support of academic institutions.<ref name=":4" />

==Legacy==
[[File:1000 hryvnia 2019 front.png|thumb|right|1000 [[Ukrainian hryvnia|hryvnia]] banknote (Ukraine's largest) depicting Vladimir Vernadsky]]
* [[Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine]] is the main academic library in Ukraine
* Ukrainian [[Antarctic Station|Antarctic station]] [[Vernadsky Research Base|Akademik Vernadsky]]
* [[Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University]], university in [[Simferopol]]
* Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, a research institution of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]]
* [[Vernadsky State Geological Museum]] is the oldest museum in Moscow
* Vernadsky Mountain Range is a mountains in [[Antarctica]] and is an extension of the [[Gamburtsev Mountain Range]].
* Several avenues in major cities in the former USSR, including [[Kyiv]], [[Moscow]] and his native [[Saint Petersburg]], bear his name.
* [[Vernadskiy (crater)]], a lunar crater
* Vernadsky Medal awarded annually by the [[International Association of GeoChemistry]]
* 2809 Vernadskij, an asteroid
[[File:Vladimir I. Vernadski (timbre soviétique).jpg|thumb|180px|Vernadsky portrayed on a 1963 Soviet stamp]]
On 25 October 2019 the [[National Bank of Ukraine]] put in circulation a ₴1,000 [[Ukrainian hryvnia|hryvnia]] banknote with Vernadsky's portrait.<ref>[https://www.unian.info/m/economics/10705323-ukraine-starts-printing-new-1-000-hryvnia-banknotes.html Ukraine starts printing new 1,000-hryvnia banknotes], [[UNIAN]] (1 October 2019)</ref>

==Selected works==
[[File:RR5009-0006R BU 130-летие со дня рождения В.И.Вернадского.png|thumb|180px|[[List of commemorative coins of Russia (1993)|1993 Russian 1 rouble coin]] commemorating the 130th anniversary of Vernadsky's birth]]
*''Geochemistry'', published in Russian 1924
*''The Biosphere'', first published in Russian in 1926. English translations:
**Oracle, AZ, Synergetic Press, 1986, {{ISBN|0-907791-11-5}}, 86 pp.
**tr. David B. Langmuir, ed. Mark A. S. McMenamin, New York, Copernicus, 1997, {{ISBN|0-387-98268-X}}, 192 pp.
*''Essays on Geochemistry & the Biosphere'', tr. Olga Barash, Santa Fe, NM, Synergetic Press, {{ISBN|0-907791-36-0}}, 2006

===Diaries===
*''Dnevniki 1917–1921: oktyabr 1917-yanvar 1920'' (''Diaries 1917–1921''), Kyiv, [[Naukova dumka]], 1994, {{ISBN|5-12-004641-X}}, 269 pp.
*''Dnevniki. Mart 1921-avgust 1925'' (''Diaries 1921–1925''), Moscow, [[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]], 1998, {{ISBN|5-02-004422-9}}, 213 pp.
*''Dnevniki 1926–1934'' (''Diaries 1926–1934''), Moscow, Nauka, 2001, {{ISBN|5-02-004409-1}}, 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, {{ISBN|5-02-033831-1}},444 pp.
*''Dnevniki 1935–1941 v dvukh knigakh. Kniga 2, 1939–1941'' (''Diaries 1935–1941. Volume 2, 1939–1941''), Moscow, Nauka, 2006, {{ISBN|5-02-033832-X}}, 295 pp.

==See also==
*[[Gaia theory (science)]]
*[[Noosphere]]
*[[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]]
*[[Prospekt Vernadskogo District]]
*[[Russian philosophy]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book |title=Imperial Moscow University: 1755–1917: encyclopedic dictionary |publisher=Russian political encyclopedia (ROSSPEN) |year=2010 |isbn=978-5-8243-1429-8 |location=Moscow |pages=120–122 |ref=Imperial Moscow University |agency=A. Andreev, D. Tsygankov}}
*"Science and Russian Cultures in an Age of Revolutions" {{ISBN|0-253-31123-3}}
*{{Cite news |last=Lapo |first=Andrei V. |date=March 2001 |title=Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863–1945), founder of the biosphere concept |volume=4 |pages=47–9 |work=Int. Microbiol. |issue=1 |url=http://www.im.microbios.org/13march01/09%20Lapo%20(P).pdf |doi=10.1007/s101230100008 |pmid=11770820 |access-date=16 May 2009 |archive-date=8 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108203203/http://www.im.microbios.org/13march01/09%20Lapo%20(P).pdf |url-status=dead }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Vladimir Vernadsky}}
* [http://novodevichye.com/vernadsky/ The grave of Vernadsky]
* Behrends, Thilo, [http://www.geochemsoc.org/files/4813/4436/8118/gn125.pdf#page=8 ''The Renaissance of V.I. Vernadsky''], Newsletter of the Geochemical Society, #125, October 2005, retrieved 4 May 2024
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070517164614/http://www.synergeticpress.com/vernadsky.html Vernadsky's biography]
* Electronic archive of writings from and about Vernadsky (Russian) [http://vernadsky.lib.ru/ Электронный Архив В. И. Вернадского]

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{{s-ttl|title=President of [[National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine|NANU]]|years=1918–1919}} 
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{{Original full members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernadsky, Vladimir Ivanovich}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Russian people of Ukrainian descent]]
[[Category:Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members]]
[[Category:Members of the State Council (Russian Empire)]]
[[Category:Cosmists]]
[[Category:Soviet geochemists]]
[[Category:Ukrainian geochemists]]
[[Category:Russian geochemists]]
[[Category:Philosophers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Full Members of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Ukrainian philosophers]]
[[Category:Russian atheists]]
[[Category:Biologists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Mineralogists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class]]
[[Category:Russian expatriates in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland]]
[[Category:Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Untitled nobility from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Geologists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian cosmism]]