Untitled

Recommendations

Info

head of the University. All these years, he managed to find time for studying into complete chemical composition of various organisms. Already these first studies showed that almost all known chemical elements may be found in some or other organs of the animals and plants. To that, sometimes even the minor quantities of an element have a certain physiological importance. Some organisms (especially among insects, unicellular organisms, and bacteria) turned out to be the concentrators of some chemical elements. For example, it had been discovered that in the soils and natural waters of the Transbaikalian region the calcium content is very low, while the content of strontium is very high; this leads to the so called Urovo disease—the abnormal forms of the growing skeleton. The lack of copper in the peat soils of Belorussia causes the lying down of the cereals; the lack of boron in the soils causes a slow putrefaction in the roots of the vegetables; and a tiny quantity of molybdenum increases the harvest of wheat and rye. Later on, all these biogeochemical peculiarities came into use in agrochemistry. Immediately after his return to Petersburg in 1921, V. I. Vernadsky traveled to a biological station near the Barents Sea for the study of the chemical composition of the various marine organisms. Having returned from there, he published an article Living substance in the chemistry of the sea. Here, he used, for the first time, the term biogeochemistry to designate a new research direction which he developed. After his opinion, this science is not to study the complete chemical composition of various tissues of the animals and plants, but also of all chemical reactions between the living substance of the organisms and the inert substance of the environment which surrounds them. From May, 1922 to May, 1926, as it was said before, V. I. Vernadsky worked in Paris. After his return to Petersburg in 1927, he organized a special biogeochemical laboratory of the Academy of Sciences, which had published a series of collections Problems of Biogeochemistry. V. I. Vernadsky was the editor of these collections. After the end of the World War II, this laboratory became a base for the then newly organized, now widely known V. I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry. In his studies of the living substance, V. I. Vernadsky 12
approached an analysis of the structure of the envelope of the Earth within which this substance exists. As early as in 1875, an Austrian geologist Edward Suess called this envelope biosphere, i.e. the sphere of life. However, neither Suess nor other scientists analyzed the content of this term in detail. As to V. I. Vernadsky, he worked out an overwhelming doctrine concerning the biosphere of the Earth. He defined the boundaries of the biosphere by having shown that the biosphere includes all the hydrosphere, troposphere to a height of about 30 km, and the upper part of the Earth’s crust down to a depth of two or three kilometers, for living bacteria still may be found at this depth in the underground waters and in the oil. He estimated the total mass of the living substance in the biosphere and described the regularities of its spatial distribution. In doing this, he identified the films of the concentrated living substance which correspond to the soil (on dry land) or to a few upper meters of the water (in the oceans). V. I. Vernadsky calculated the amount of cosmic energy received by the biosphere by means of capturing (by the chlorophyll of the green plants) of solar radiation. He calculated, which portion of this energy is spent on movement, reproduction, and other functions of the living substance of the biosphere; which portion is spent by the organisms on the destruction of the rocks and on the creation of the new minerals in the biosphere; and which is buried (together with the organic matter) in the sedimentary rocks and so transfers the solar energy into the Earth’s crust, creating in the end the deposits of coal, oil, and combustible gas. V. I. Vernadsky studied the velocities at which various species of the organisms diffuse in the biosphere. He worked out a mathematical technique for defining their impact on their environment. He calculated the cycles of chemical elements passing through the living substance. In short, he made the main features of the biosphere structure and life clear for everybody. V. I. Vernadsky’s biosphere is not a static life envelope, but an open system having existed since the very beginning of the Earth’s history. The contemporary life and its activities are the product of a long and complex evolution of the living substance. To that, this historical development is continuous, directed, ire- 13
Page 3 and 4: V. I. Vernadsky SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS Preface A. L. Yanshin, F.
Page 7 and 8: ens through the creation (by him) o
Page 9 and 10: new species of diatoms, and the oce
Page 11 and 12: Analogous were the comments of othe
Page 13: his studies!” sounded. This was t
Page 17 and 18: dreds of thousands publications, in
Page 19 and 20: to the Earth as a set of simplest f
Page 21 and 22: 11. Rational transformation of the
Page 23 and 24: Section one SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT AND
Page 25 and 26: phenomena whose manifestations in t
Page 27 and 28: evealed itself to the scientific kn
Page 29 and 30: changes it, while with respect to w
Page 31 and 32: consciousness) of the belief in the
Page 33 and 34: significance because it has created
Page 35 and 36: glacial phenomena become intensifie
Page 37 and 38: Geometrically, the rightness and th
Page 39 and 40: created. The history of scientific
Page 41 and 42: the geological time. Whereas under
Page 43 and 44: more precise an inference made much
Page 45 and 46: assert it with confidence) that thr
Page 47 and 48: scientific definition and elucidati
Page 49 and 50: hundred years) of this duration. Fi
Page 51 and 52: man from the Southern England in th
Page 53 and 54: is not a new one, and by the late 1
Page 55 and 56: Regrettably, the condition of the h
Page 57 and 58: the spiritual manifestation of the
Page 59 and 60: destruction not of its armed partic
Page 61 and 62: the dominating race. Their ideal is
Page 63 and 64: Firstly, the history of the mankind
Page 65 and 66:
the scientific knowledge within the
Page 67 and 68:
entists never were such people of a
Page 69 and 70:
from the actions outside the scient
Page 71 and 72:
Maxwell, Lavoisier, Ampere, Faraday
Page 73 and 74:
protists, fungi, and micro-organism
Page 75 and 76:
morphological structures of the lif
Page 77 and 78:
with the manifestation not of the c
Page 79 and 80:
these migrations— navigation), th
Page 81 and 82:
42. Our knowledge in this area are
Page 83 and 84:
Europe, this idea went into life du
Page 85 and 86:
it. Probably these demands emerged
Page 87 and 88:
46. But at the same time in the ext
Page 89 and 90:
time received its scientific philos
Page 91 and 92:
scholars and writers that, in their
Page 93 and 94:
enormous, explosion-like (as to its
Page 95 and 96:
essentially belong to the other reg
Page 97 and 98:
Of course, theoretical construction
Page 99 and 100:
The concepts of the quantity, of th
Page 101 and 102:
several months before that. The fir
Page 103 and 104:
and seeks a scientific explanations
Page 105 and 106:
In the history of religions (which
Page 107 and 108:
self-dependent thought in India beg
Page 109 and 110:
dynasties, China formed steady rese
Page 111 and 112:
The problem is that there is a phen
Page 113 and 114:
continuously growing which became e
Page 115 and 116:
later, but still within a reasonabl
Page 117 and 118:
e accomplished in a spontaneous way
Page 119 and 120:
of China and Mongolia. K. Marx, an
Page 121 and 122:
the rise and to the pressure of the
Page 123 and 124:
ated in scientific milieu and unsat
Page 125 and 126:
The idea of a “scientific brain t
Page 127 and 128:
man profoundly and completely: in t
Page 129 and 130:
Thus, the main indubitable eternal
Page 131 and 132:
America, first of all, in connectio
Page 133 and 134:
of science and dependent on it. Suc
Page 135 and 136:
82. From the said it is clear that
Page 137 and 138:
over natural bodies, and over parti
Page 139 and 140:
after a many-century interruption a
Page 141 and 142:
A close connection between philosop
Page 143 and 144:
thought of the Greeks, though incom
Page 145 and 146:
A. D. the cultural exchange between
Page 147 and 148:
Academy of Plato, his teacher, who
Page 149 and 150:
and most usual tool. The technique
Page 151 and 152:
thought, and this movement manifest
Page 153 and 154:
that time, the most intense and pro
Page 155 and 156:
of science in many areas. But in su
Page 157 and 158:
chemical physics. The physical acce
Page 159 and 160:
envelope lying at the frontier of t
Page 161 and 162:
es constantly. Theoretically speaki
Page 163 and 164:
exceeds the boundaries of the biosp
Page 165 and 166:
101. It is clear from the above sai
Page 167 and 168:
nature; and even when it does, the
Page 169 and 170:
ing organisms are included into the
Page 171 and 172:
eproduction of man, the development
Page 173 and 174:
millions, for 1915—645 millions.
Page 175 and 176:
the contemporary human population o
Page 177 and 178:
The most probable cause is a series
Page 179 and 180:
under which agriculture could arise
Page 181 and 182:
increase this area approximately by
Page 183 and 184:
on the plains of China than on any
Page 185 and 186:
created: the surface of the Earth a
Page 187 and 188:
latitudes, from what is now Morocco
Page 189 and 190:
agenda. This question is tied up wi
Page 191 and 192:
We see and know (but we know it at
Page 193 and 194:
Section four LIFE SCIENCES IN THE S
Page 195 and 196:
determine exactly and scientificall
Page 197 and 198:
(simple or complex), any soil, silt
Page 199 and 200:
identical causes: the absence of th
Page 201 and 202:
125. Although later I shall return
Page 203 and 204:
space-time as an indissoluble whole
Page 205 and 206:
tific investigation is real. The si
Page 207 and 208:
It is best seen in the treatment of
Page 209 and 210:
departure, this work may go more de
Page 211 and 212:
to biogeochemical energy. Its meani
Page 213 and 214:
Unfortunately this name, very impro
Page 215 and 216:
only indicate to the existence of n
Page 217 and 218:
consists of two states, distinct wi
Page 219 and 220:
nomenon, as a fact when one takes t
Page 221 and 222:
The concept of the “space state
Page 223 and 224:
X. The living organisms possessing
Page 225 and 226:
the great influence of the enormous
Page 227 and 228:
Here is this summary. The inert nat
Page 229 and 230:
One may express it so: this composi
Page 231 and 232:
CHAPTER X Biological sciences ought
Page 233 and 234:
Life sciences in the system of scie
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
economics, but likewise in that of
Page 249 and 250:
the inert and bio-inert mass of the
Page 251 and 252:
nificance of this phenomenon with t
Page 253 and 254:
ical tragedy through which we live,
Page 255 and 256:
Reynolds’ persistence, the expedi
Page 257 and 258:
From left to right: sitting - N.D.Z
Page 259 and 260:
The lastmost photograph of V.I.Vern
Page 261 and 262:
Participated in the second session
Page 263 and 264:
provinces for mineralogical researc
Page 265 and 266:
on the studies of permafrost of the
Page 267 and 268:
ecological programmes and for gas-
show all

Untitled

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?