Gaia Theory and the scientist behind it

The inventor who understood climate change

James Lovelock, courtesy of times.co.uk

A few weeks ago, James Lovelock died on his birthday. He’d done rather well, making it to 103. Apart from living to an extraordinary age he was also an extraordinary scientist and chemist, famous for inventing Gaia theory with the US biologist, Lynn Margulis.

Gaia is the Greek earth goddess and the theory proposes that all living things interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth creating a synergistic, self-regulating system that helps maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life.

It gradually became accepted into the main stream of science fact, although under the guise of Earth System Science, so as not to upset too many biologists who thought the theory contravened the accepted principles of natural selection.

The life of a scientist

Lovelock made a significant contribution to scientific research. He created the electron capture detector, an extraordinarily sensitive way to detect pollutants which got the attention of a recently formed US space agency called NASA in the 1960s. They were preparing for the Viking Mars mission and Lovelock became the first Brit to work on this project, creating a weight saving…