MAIN DATES IN THE LIFE AND ACTIVITY OF V.I. VERNADSKY 1863, February 28 (March 12, new style) - St. Petersburg. In the family of the professor of political economy and statistics of the Alexander Lyceum, Ivan Vasilyevich Vernadsky, married for his second marriage to Anna Petrovna, née

PUBLISHED WORKS, DIARIES, LETTERS OF V.I. VERNADSKY Selected works / Ed. A. P. Vinogradova. M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1954–1960. T. I–V. Collected works on mineralogy, crystallography, natural waters, geochemistry, radiogeology, biospherics and other earth sciences. Not published

One of the outstanding naturalists who devoted himself to studying the processes occurring in the biosphere was Academician Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1864-1945). He is the founder of the scientific direction he called biogeochemistry, which formed the basis of the modern doctrine of the biosphere.

Research by V.I. Vernadsky led to an awareness of the role of life and living matter in geological processes. The appearance of the Earth, its atmosphere, sedimentary rocks, landscapes - all this is the result of the vital activity of living organisms. Vernadsky assigned a special role to man in shaping the face of our planet. He presented human activity as a spontaneous natural process, the origins of which are lost in the depths of history.

Being an outstanding theorist, V.I. Vernadsky stood at the origins of such new and now generally recognized sciences as radiogeology, biogeochemistry, the doctrine of the biosphere and noosphere, and scientific studies.

In 1926 V.I. Vernadsky published the book “Biosphere,” which marked the birth of a new science about nature and man’s relationship with it. The biosphere is shown for the first time as a single dynamic system, inhabited and controlled by life, the living matter of the planet: “The biosphere is an organized, definite shell of the earth’s crust, associated with life.” The scientist established that the interaction of living matter with inert matter is part of the large mechanism of the earth’s crust, thanks to which various geochemical and biogenic processes, migration of atoms occur, and their participation in geological and biological cycles.

IN AND. Vernadsky emphasized that the biosphere is the result of geological and biological development and the interaction of inert and biogenic matter. On the one hand, it is the environment of life, and on the other, it is the result of life activity. The specificity of the modern biosphere is clearly directed flows of energy and biogenic (associated with the activity of living beings) circulation of substances. Vernadsky was the first to show that the chemical state of the outer crust of our planet is entirely under the influence of life and is determined by living organisms, whose activity is associated with the great planetary process - the migration of chemical elements in the biosphere. The evolution of species, leading to the creation of life forms, is stable in the biosphere and should go in the direction of increasing biogenic migration of atoms.

IN AND. Vernadsky noted that the limits of the biosphere are determined primarily by the field of existence of life. The development of life, and therefore the boundaries of the biosphere, is influenced by many factors, and above all the presence of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water in its liquid phase. The area of ​​distribution of life is also limited by too high or low temperatures and elements of mineral nutrition. Limiting factors include a hypersaline environment (the concentration of salts in seawater is approximately 10 times higher). Groundwater with a salt concentration above 270 g/l is devoid of life.

According to Vernadsky's ideas, the biosphere consists of several heterogeneous components. The main and main thing is living matter, the totality of all living organisms that inhabit the Earth. In the process of life, living organisms interact with nonliving (abiogenic) - inert substance. Such a substance is formed as a result of processes in which living organisms do not take part, for example, igneous rocks. The next component is nutrient, created and processed by living organisms (atmospheric gases, coal, oil, peat, limestone, chalk, forest litter, soil humus, etc.). Another component of the biosphere - bioinert substance- the result of the joint activity of living organisms (water, soil, weathering crust, sedimentary rocks, clay materials) and inert (abiogenic) processes.

The inert substance sharply predominates in mass and volume. Living matter by mass makes up an insignificant part of our planet: approximately 0.25% of the biosphere. Moreover, “the mass of living matter remains basically constant and is determined by the radiant solar energy of the planet’s population.” Currently, this conclusion of Vernadsky is called law of constancy.

IN AND. Vernadsky formulated five postulates related to the function of the biosphere.

The first postulate: “From the very beginning of the biosphere, the life entering it must have been a complex body, and not a homogeneous substance, since its biogeochemical functions associated with life, in terms of diversity and complexity, cannot be the lot of any one form of life.” In other words, the primitive biosphere was originally characterized by rich functional diversity.

The second postulate: “Organisms do not manifest themselves individually, but in a mass effect... The first appearance of life... should have occurred not in the form of the appearance of one particular type of organism, but of their totality, corresponding to the geochemical function of life. Biocenoses should have appeared immediately.”

The third postulate: “In the general monolith of life, no matter how its constituent parts change, their chemical functions could not be affected by morphological change.” That is, the primary biosphere was represented by “collections” of organisms such as biocenoses, which were the main “acting force” of geochemical transformations. Morphological changes in the “aggregates” did not affect the “chemical functions” of these components.

The fourth postulate: “Living organisms... with their breathing, their nutrition, their metabolism... by a continuous change of generations... give rise to one of the most grandiose planetary phenomena... - the migration of chemical elements in the biosphere,” therefore, “throughout the entire course of millions of years that have passed years, we see the formation of the same minerals; at all times, the same cycles of chemical elements occurred as we see now.”

Fifth postulate: “All functions of living matter in the biosphere, without exception, can be performed by the simplest single-celled organisms.”

Developing the doctrine of the biosphere, V.I. Vernadsky came to the conclusion that the main transformer of cosmic energy is the green matter of plants. Only they are capable of absorbing the energy of solar radiation and synthesizing primary organic compounds.

The main provisions of the teachings of V.I. Vernadsky about the biosphere (1863-1945)

To the concept of "" (without the term itself) at the beginning of the 19th century. came up Lamarck. Later (1863) French explorer Reyut used the term “biosphere” to designate the area of ​​distribution of life on the earth’s surface. In 1875, an Austrian geologist Suess called the biosphere a special shell of the Earth, including the totality of all organisms, contrasting it with others

earth's shells. Since the works of Suess, biosphere interpreted as the totality of organisms inhabiting the Earth.

The completed doctrine of the biosphere was created by our compatriot academician Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. The main ideas of V.I. Vernadsky in the doctrine of the biosphere took shape at the beginning of the 20th century. He presented them in lectures in Paris. In 1926, his ideas about the biosphere were formulated in the book "Biosphere", consisting of two essays: “Biosphere and Space” and “Area of ​​Life”. Later, these same ideas were developed in a large monograph “Chemical structure of the Earth’s biosphere and its environment”, which, unfortunately, was published only 20 years after his death.

First of all, V.I. Vernadsky defined the space that covers biosphere Earth - the entire hydrosphere to the maximum depths of the oceans, the upper part of the lithosphere of the continents to a depth of about 3 km and the lower part of the atmosphere to the upper boundary of the troposphere. He introduced into science the integral concept living matter and began to call the biosphere the region of existence on Earth of “living matter”, which is a complex collection of microorganisms, algae, fungi, plants and animals. Essentially, we are talking about a single thermodynamic shell (space) in which life and
There is a constant interaction between all living things and inorganic environmental conditions (the film of life). He showed that the biosphere differs from other spheres of the Earth in that the geological activity of all living organisms takes place inside it. Living organisms, transforming solar energy, are a powerful force influencing geological processes.

A specific feature of the biosphere as a special shell of the Earth is the continuously occurring circulation of substances in it, regulated by the activity of living organisms. According to V.I. Vernadsky, in the past the contribution of living organisms to the energy of the biosphere and their influence on inanimate bodies was clearly underestimated. Although living matter constitutes an insignificant part of the biosphere in terms of volume and mass, it plays a major role in geological processes associated with changes in the appearance of our planet.

Pursuing the science he created biochemistry, studying the distribution of chemical elements on the surface of the planet, V.I. Vernadsky came to the conclusion that there is practically not a single element from the periodic table that would not be included in living matter. He formulated three important biogeochemical principles:

• Biogenic migration of chemical elements in the biosphere always strives for its maximum manifestation. This principle has been violated by man these days.
• The evolution of species over geological time, leading to the creation of forms of life that are stable in the biosphere, occurs in a direction that enhances the biogenic migration of atoms.
• Living matter is in continuous chemical exchange with its environment, created and maintained on Earth by the cosmic energy of the Sun. Due to the violation of the first two principles, cosmic influences from supporting the biosphere can turn into factors destroying it.

The listed geochemical principles correlate with the following important conclusions of V.I. Vernadsky: every organism can exist only under the condition of constant close connection with other organisms and inanimate nature; life with all its manifestations has made profound changes on our planet.

The initial basis for the existence of the biosphere and the biochemical processes occurring in it is the astronomical position of our planet and, first of all, its distance from the Sun and the inclination of the earth’s axis to the plane of the earth’s orbit. This spatial arrangement of the Earth determines mainly the climate of the Earth, and the latter, in turn, determines the life cycles of all organisms existing on it. The sun is the main source of energy in the biosphere and the regulator of all geological, chemical and biological processes on Earth.

Living matter of planet Earth

The main idea of ​​V.I. Vernadsky lies in the fact that the highest phase of the development of matter on Earth - life - determines and subordinates other planetary processes. On this occasion, he wrote that it can be said without exaggeration that the chemical state of the outer crust of our planet, the biosphere, is entirely under the influence of life and is determined by living organisms.

If all living organisms are evenly distributed on the surface of the Earth, they form a film 5 mm thick. Despite this, the role of living matter in the history of the Earth is no less than the role of geological processes. The entire mass of living matter that was on Earth, for example, for 1 billion years, already exceeds the mass of the earth’s crust.

A quantitative characteristic of living matter is the total amount biomass. IN AND. Vernadsky, having carried out analyzes and calculations, came to the conclusion that the amount of biomass ranges from 1000 to 10,000 trillion tons. It also turned out that the surface of the Earth is slightly less than 0.0001% of the surface of the Sun, but the green area of ​​its transformation apparatus, i.e. the surface of tree leaves, grass stems and green algae gives numbers of a completely different order - in different periods of the year it ranges from 0.86 to 4.20% of the surface of the Sun, which explains the large total energy of the biosphere. In recent years, similar calculations using the latest equipment were carried out by a Krasnoyarsk biophysicist I. Gitelzon and confirmed the order of numbers determined by V.I. more than half a century ago. Vernadsky.

A significant place in the works of V.I. According to Vernadsky, the biosphere is assigned to the green living matter of plants, since only it is autotrophic and capable of accumulating the radiant energy of the Sun, forming primary organic compounds with its help.

A significant part of the energy of living matter goes to the formation of new vadose(unknown outside of it) minerals, and some are buried in the form of organic matter, ultimately forming deposits of brown and hard coal, oil shale, oil and gas. “We are dealing here,” wrote V.I. Vernadsky, - with a new process, with the slow penetration into the planet of the radiant energy of the Sun, which reached the surface of the Earth. In this way, living matter changes the biosphere and the earth's crust. It continuously leaves in it part of the chemical elements that passed through it, creating huge thicknesses of vadose minerals unknown besides it, or permeating the inert matter of the biosphere with the finest dust of its remains.”

According to the scientist, the earth's crust is mainly the remains of former biospheres. Even its granite-gneiss layer was formed as a result of metamorphism and melting of rocks that once arose under the influence of living matter. He considered only basalts and other basic igneous rocks to be deep and not related to the biosphere in their genesis.

In the doctrine of the biosphere, the concept of “living matter” is fundamental. Living organisms convert cosmic radiant energy into earthly, chemical energy and create the endless diversity of our world. With their breathing, nutrition, metabolism, death and decomposition, which lasts hundreds of millions of years, and the continuous change of generations, they give rise to a grandiose planetary process that exists only in the biosphere. — migration of chemical elements.

Living matter, according to the theory of V.I. Vernadsky, is a biogeochemical factor on a planetary scale, under the influence of which both the surrounding abiotic environment and the living organisms themselves are transformed. Throughout the entire space of the biosphere, there is a constant movement of molecules generated by life. Life decisively influences the distribution, migration and dispersion of chemical elements, determining the fate of nitrogen, potassium, calcium, oxygen, magnesium, strontium, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur and other elements.

The eras of the development of life: Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic reflect not only the forms of life on Earth, but also its geological record, its planetary fate.

In the theory of the biosphere, organic matter, along with the energy of radioactive decay, is considered as a carrier of free energy. Life is considered not as a mechanical sum of individuals or species, but as essentially a single process covering all the matter of the upper layer of the planet.

Living matter has changed throughout all geological eras and periods. Consequently, as noted by V.I. Vernadsky, modern living matter is genetically related to the living matter of all past geological eras. At the same time, over significant geological periods of time, the amount of living matter is not subject to noticeable changes. This pattern was formulated by scientists as a constant amount of living matter in the biosphere (for a given geological period).

Living matter performs the following biogeochemical functions in the biosphere: gas - absorbs and releases gases; redox - oxidizes, for example, carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and reduces it to carbohydrates; concentration—concentrator organisms accumulate nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon, calcium, and magnesium in their bodies and skeletons. As a result of performing these functions, the living matter of the biosphere from the mineral base creates natural waters and soils; it created in the past and maintains the atmosphere in a state of equilibrium.

With the participation of living matter, the process of weathering occurs, and rocks are included in geochemical processes.

The gas and redox functions of living matter are closely related to the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. As a result of the biosynthesis of organic substances by autotrophic organisms, a huge amount of carbon dioxide was extracted from the ancient atmosphere. As the biomass of green plants increased, the gas composition of the atmosphere changed - the carbon dioxide content decreased and the oxygen concentration increased. All oxygen in the atmosphere is formed as a result of the vital processes of autotrophic organisms. Living matter has qualitatively changed the gas composition of the atmosphere—the geological shell of the Earth. In turn, oxygen is used by organisms for the respiration process, as a result of which carbon dioxide is again released into the atmosphere.

Thus, living organisms created in the past and maintain the atmosphere of our planet for millions of years. An increase in oxygen concentration in the planet's atmosphere affected the speed and intensity of redox reactions in the lithosphere.

Many microorganisms are directly involved in the oxidation of iron, which leads to the formation of sedimentary iron ores, or in the reduction of sulfates with the formation of biogenic sulfur deposits. Despite the fact that living organisms contain the same chemical elements, the compounds of which form the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, organisms do not completely repeat the chemical composition of the environment.

Living matter, actively performing a concentration function, selects from its habitat those chemical elements and in such quantities that it needs. Thanks to the concentration function, living organisms created many sedimentary rocks, for example, deposits of chalk and limestone.

In the biosphere, as in every ecosystem, there is a constant circulation of chemical elements. Thus, the living matter of the biosphere, performing geochemical functions, creates and maintains the balance of the biosphere.

Empirical generalizations by V.I. Vernadsky

The first conclusion from the doctrine of the biosphere is principle of biosphere integrity. The structure of the Earth is a coherent system. The living world is a single system cemented by many food chains and other interdependencies. If even a small part of it dies, everything else will collapse.

The principle of harmony of the biosphere and its organization. In the biosphere, “everything is taken into account and everything is adapted with the same accuracy and with the same subordination to measure and harmony that we see in the harmonious movements of the heavenly bodies and are beginning to see in systems of atoms of matter and atoms of energy.”

The role of living things in the evolution of the Earth. The face of the Earth is actually shaped by life. “All the minerals of the upper parts of the earth’s crust - free aluminosilicon acids (clays), carbonates (limestones and dolomites), hydrates of iron and aluminum oxides (brown iron ores and bauxites) and many hundreds of others - are continuously created in it only under the influence of life.”

The cosmic role of the biosphere in energy transformation. V.I. Vernadsky emphasized the importance of energy and called living organisms mechanisms of energy transformation.

Cosmic energy causes life pressure, which is achieved by reproduction. The reproduction of organisms decreases as their number increases. Population sizes increase until the environment can support further increases, after which equilibrium is reached. The number fluctuates near the equilibrium level.

The spreading of life is a manifestation of its geochemical energy. Living matter, like gas, spreads over the earth's surface in accordance with the rule of inertia. Small organisms reproduce much faster than large ones. The rate of transmission of life depends on the density of living matter.

The concept of autotrophy. Organisms that take all the chemical elements they need for life from the surrounding bone matter are called autotrophic and do not require ready-made compounds from another organism to build their body. The field of existence of these autotrophic green organisms is determined by the area of ​​penetration of sunlight.

Life is entirely determined by the field of sustainability of green vegetation, and the limits of life are the physical and chemical properties of the compounds that build the organism, their indestructibility under certain environmental conditions. The maximum field of life is determined by the extreme limits of survival of the organism. The upper limit of life is determined by radiant energy, the presence of which excludes life and from which the ozone shield protects. The lower limit is associated with reaching a high temperature.

The biosphere, in its main features, has represented the same chemical apparatus since the most ancient geological periods. Life remained constant throughout geological time, only its form changed. Living matter itself is not a random creation.

“Ubiquity” of life in the biosphere. Life gradually, slowly adapting, captured the biosphere, and this capture did not end. The field of stability of life is the result of its adaptability in the course of time.

The law of thrift in the use of simple chemical bodies by living matter. Once an element enters, it goes through a long series of states, and the body absorbs only the required number of elements.

Constancy of the amount of living matter in the biosphere. The amount of free oxygen in the atmosphere is of the same order as the amount of living matter. Living matter is an intermediary between the Sun and the Earth and, therefore, either its quantity must be constant, or its energy characteristics must change.

Any system reaches stable equilibrium when its free energy is equal to or approaches zero, i.e. when all the work possible under the system conditions has been completed.

V. I. Vernadsky formulated the idea of ​​human autotrophy, which has become important in the discussion of the problem of creating artificial ecosystems in spacecraft. The creation of such artificial ecosystems will be an important stage in the development of ecology. Their construction combines an engineering goal - creating something new - and an environmental focus on preserving what is existing, a creative approach and reasonable conservatism. This will be the implementation of the principle of “designing with nature.”

So far, the artificial ecosystem is a very complex and cumbersome structure. What functions naturally in nature can be reproduced by humans only at the cost of great effort. But he will have to do this if he wants to master space and make long flights. The need to create an artificial ecosystem in spacecraft will help to better understand natural ecosystems.

Great man, scientist and public figure Vladimir Vernadsky known as the discoverer of the biosphere, noosphere and such science as biogeochemistry. His scientific activity was quite broad and included geology, mineralogy, biology, geochemistry, radiogeology, crystallography, and even philosophy.

Brief biography of V.I. Vernadsky

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky was born February 28, 1863 in St. Petersburg of the Russian Empire. His father - Ivan Vasilievich Vernadsky, an official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a descendant of the Zaporozhye Cossacks; his mother - Anna Petrovna Vernadskaya, hereditary Russian noblewoman.

Study period

Fleeing the harsh St. Petersburg climate, the Vernadsky family moved to Kharkov in 1868, where 5 years later young Vladimir began studying in first grade Kharkov gymnasium.

In 1876, after the family returned to St. Petersburg, Vernadsky entered the 1st Petersburg Classical Gymnasium. In 1881 he graduated from high school eighth in issue, which was not so bad at all, considering the very strong team.

In 1881-1885 he studied at the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics St. Petersburg University who graduated. He was a participant in expeditions (1882, 1884) and a student V. V. Dokuchaeva. Among his teachers were a chemist D. I. Mendeleev and botanist A. N. Beketov.

In 1885-1890 he became the keeper of the Mineralogical Cabinet of St. Petersburg University.

In 1888-1890, Vladimir Vernadsky was sent by the University to Italy, France and Germany to continue his studies and prepare for a professorship.

In 1889, he helped V.V. Dokuchaev in preparing and displaying a soil exhibition at the World Exhibition in Paris, for which the “Department of Russian Soils” of the exhibition was awarded a gold medal.

In 1897, V. I. Vernadsky defended his doctoral dissertation at St. Petersburg University.

Vernadsky - natural scientist

The scientific work of Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky had a significant impact on the development of geosciences and the academies of sciences in Russia and Ukraine.

This great scientist did a lot of work organizing expeditions and creating a laboratory base for searching and study of radioactive minerals. He was one of the first to understand the enormous importance of studying radioactive processes for all aspects of society.

The progress of research into radioactive deposits was reflected in "Proceedings of the Radium Expedition of the Academy of Sciences". He believed that for successful work permanent research stations should be organized.

Revolution period

In the summer of 1917, V.I. Vernadsky arrived at his Shishaki estate in the Poltava province, where the October Revolution found him. Recognizing the independence of Ukraine as a fait accompli, V.I. Vernadsky left the Cadet Party in May 1918.

On October 27, 1918, Vernadsky became one of the founders and first president Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, created by the government of Hetman Pavel Skoropadsky. He taught a course in geochemistry at Kiev University. He was passionate about biogeochemistry.

In mid-March 1921, the Vernadsky family returned to Petrograd. V.I. Vernadsky headed the Meteorite Department of the Mineralogical Museum in Petrograd (1921-1939), the Radiochemical Laboratory and KEPS. He managed to organize L.A. Kulik’s expedition to Siberia, to the site of the Tunguska meteorite that fell in 1908.

Arrest and release

July 14, 1921 Vladimir Vernadsky was arrested and taken to Shpalernaya prison. The next day, during interrogation, he realized that they were trying to accuse him of espionage. To the surprise of the guards, Vernadsky was released.

A little later it turned out that Karpinsky and Oldenburg sent telegrams to Lenin and Lunacharsky, after which Semashko and Lenin’s assistant Kuzmin ordered the release of Vernadsky.

Vernadsky - radiologist

Vernadsky participated in the creation in January 1922 Radium Institute, who headed until 1939. The Institute was formed by uniting all the radiological institutions that existed at that time in Petrograd:

• Radium Laboratory of the Academy of Sciences
• Radium Department of the State Radiological and Radiological Institute
• Radiochemical laboratory
• Collegium for organizing a radium plant.

The integrated approach to the problem of radioactivity, characteristic of the founders of the institute - academicians Vernadsky and Khlopin, predetermined the complex structure of the institute, based on a combination of physical, chemical and radiogeochemical research.

Other merits

In 1915-1930 Chairman of the Commission for the Study of Natural Production Forces of Russia, was one of the creators GOELRO plan. The commission made a huge contribution to the geological study of the Soviet Union and the creation of its independent mineral resource base.

In 1926 he continued his independent creative work. Formulated the concept biological structure of the ocean. According to this concept, life in the ocean is concentrated in “films” - geographical boundary layers of various scales.

He founded a new science - biogeochemistry and made a huge contribution to geochemistry. From 1927 until his death, he served as director of the Biogeochemical Laboratory at the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was the teacher of a whole galaxy of Soviet geochemists.

Philosophical heritage

Of Vernadsky's philosophical heritage, the most famous is doctrine of the noosphere, he is considered one of the main thinkers of the movement known as Russian cosmism.

last years of life

Summer 1940 On the initiative of V.I. Vernadsky, research began on uranium to produce nuclear energy. At the beginning of the war, he was evacuated to Kazakhstan, where he created his books “On the states of space in the geological phenomena of the Earth. Against the background of the growth of science of the 20th century" And “Chemical structure of the Earth’s biosphere and its environment”.

In 1943, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the birth of " for many years of outstanding work in the field of science and technology» V. I. Vernadsky was awarded Stalin Prize 1st degree.

At the end of 1943, V.I. Vernadsky returned from Kazakhstan to Moscow. On December 25, 1944, he suffered a stroke. Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky died January 6, 1945 in Moscow. Buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945)

The outstanding naturalist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky was the largest mineralogist in the world. Among mineralogists and geochemists there are, of course, many talented researchers who have contributed to these disciplines. They developed individual issues no less deeply than V.I. Vernadsky, however, in terms of the breadth and depth of understanding and coverage of natural mineral-forming processes, and in the power of analysis of the history of the chemical elements of the earth's crust as a whole, we do not know scientists equal to him.

V.I. Vernadsky transformed mineralogy, created geochemistry, the science of the history of chemical elements - atoms of the Earth and space - and most deeply and correctly defined the tasks of this new trend in geology. He was the creator of biogeochemistry - the science of the role of organisms in the history of the Earth's chemical elements and the relationship of organisms with the earth's crust. V.I. Vernadsky worked in many areas of natural science: mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, radiogeology, hydrogeology, meteorology, soil science, and left a deep mark everywhere.

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky was born on March 12, 1863 in St. Petersburg, in the family of an economist professor. In 1881 he graduated from high school. Vladimir Ivanovich had unpleasant memories of his gymnasium years. The classical gymnasium, according to him, was classical only in name. “The main misfortune was that,” wrote V.I. Vernadsky in 1916, “that in general the teachers of ancient languages ​​at that time in Russia were or, like us, strangers, outsiders to Russian life and the interests of our country and therefore unconsciously "who conscientiously carried out the anti-national official program, or police officials who did not care about the ideological tasks of the school, who more or less conscientiously carried out the orders of the same authorities as they were. Undoubtedly, other executors for the classical police system could not be found."

The interests of the talented part of the gymnasium youth were concentrated in various circles, work in which left a deep mark on the lives of their participants. On this occasion, V.I. Vernadsky wrote: “Strangely, the crippled classical gymnasium gave me the desire for natural science, thanks to that internal underground, unsuspected life that went on in it in those cases when living, talented young naturalists fell into its midst ". However, his interests during the gymnasium period were in the fields of history, philosophy and Slavic languages.

His life took a completely different turn after entering the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at St. Petersburg University. The composition of professors at St. Petersburg University at that time was brilliant. Mendeleev, Menshutkin, Dokuchaev, Sechenov, Kostychev, Inostrantsev and others gave lectures there. In the memoirs of V.I. Vernadsky about his student years, we read: “At the lectures of many of them - in the first year at the lectures of Mendeleev, Beketov, Dokuchaev - a new world opened up before us, and we all threw ourselves passionately and energetically into scientific work, to which "We were so unsystematically and incompletely prepared by our past life. Eight years of gymnasium life seemed to us wasted time, that useless trial that the government system, which caused our deep indignation, forced us to undergo." These thoughts received vivid expression in the lectures of D. I. Mendeleev... Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, according to V. I. Vernadsky, aroused “the deepest aspirations of the human personality for knowledge and its active application.”

In 1885, V.I. Vernadsky was awarded the degree of Candidate of Natural Sciences for his study of the physical properties of isomorphic mixtures. The beginning of V. I. Vernadsky’s scientific activity took place in a circle of people grouped around the outstanding Russian soil scientist V. V. Dokuchaev, whom he considered his teacher. V.V. Dokuchaev at this time created a new branch of natural science - soil science, the science of soil as an independent natural-historical body that arises and develops in the surface conditions of the earth's crust, where life interacts with inorganic nature.

In connection with the study of the evolution of soils, V.V. Dokuchaev developed a great interest in the genesis of minerals and their history as an integral part of the history of soils. Dokuchaev had a profound influence on the future development of the scientific activity of V.I. Vernadsky as a mineralogist, geochemist and biogeochemist.

After graduating from the university, in the period from 1886 to 1888, V.I. Vernadsky was the curator of the mineralogical museum of St. Petersburg University. In 1888 he was sent abroad to carry out work on mineralogy and crystallography. For two years he worked in Italy, Germany, and mainly in France with professors Fouquet and Lechatelier, where he became familiar with the methods of synthesis of minerals and their determination.

In 1890, V.I. Vernadsky returned to Russia and took part in the soil expedition of V.V. Dokuchaev. In the fall of the same year, he was approved as an associate professor at Moscow University. In 1891, at St. Petersburg University, V.I. Vernadsky defended his thesis for the title of master of mineralogy and geognosy on the topic “On the sillimanite group and the role of alumina in silicates,” and in 1897 he received a doctorate for his work “On the phenomena of sliding of crystalline matter ".

In 1898, V.I. Vernadsky was appointed professor at Moscow University, where he worked until 1911. During the twenty-year period of work at Moscow University, he created textbooks on mineralogy and crystallography, radically restructured the teaching of these disciplines, and at the same time streamlined and developed the mineralogical museum university.

In 1906, V.I. Vernadsky was elected adjunct of the Academy of Sciences, and in 1909, academician. In 1911, he and a group of democratically minded professors (K. A. Timiryazev and others), in protest against the reactionary policy of Minister Casso regarding higher education, left Moscow University and moved to St. Petersburg.

From then until the day of his death, his scientific activity took place mainly at the Academy of Sciences.

The scientific activity of V.I. Vernadsky, whose constant subject of research was the history of minerals and chemical elements of the Earth, can be conditionally divided into three periods. In the first period, he worked mainly on issues of mineralogy and crystallography. In the second, on the basis of vast mineralogy materials, he created and developed geochemistry. In the third, covering the last 15-20 years of his life, he created biochemistry and developed its problems.

Before V.I. Vernadsky, there was a descriptive direction in mineralogy. Minerals were mainly studied from the point of view of their external properties - shape, color, hardness, size, etc. Very little attention was paid to elucidating the reasons and conditions for the formation of minerals, the patterns of their relationships with each other, i.e. their paragenesis, as well as their internal properties, their structure.

V.I. Vernadsky developed genetic mineralogy: he taught to consider minerals as natural products of physical and chemical processes occurring in the earth’s crust and space. He created mineralogy as the chemistry of the Earth; pointed out the need to study not only minerals, but also mineral-forming processes and put forward the paragenesis of minerals as an important criterion in understanding their origin.

He successfully searched for and found the causes of mineral formation processes and studied these processes himself. “I based a broad study of the mineralogical processes of the earth’s crust, paying primary attention to the process, and not just to the study of the product of the process (mineral), to the dynamic study of processes, and not just to the static study of their products, and, after some hesitation, - settled for his research work mainly on mineralogy, and not on crystallography."

When studying any process, V.I. Vernadsky looked for and found the influence of the time factor as a real natural factor of all processes, i.e., he approached the subject under study historically.

V.I. Vernadsky gave the most complete and correct definition of mineralogy as a science and mineral as a subject of study in this discipline. He wrote: “Mineralogy is the chemistry of the earth’s crust; it has the task of studying both the products of natural chemical processes, the so-called minerals, and the processes themselves. It studies the change in products and processes over time, in various natural areas of the earth’s crust. It studies the mutual natural associations of minerals (their paragenesis) and laws in their formation."

The most famous are the works of V.I. Vernadsky in the field of studying the structure of the most important group of minerals - aluminosilicates, which make up most of the earth's crust: feldspars, feldspathides, micas and others. Work in this area was started by him in 1890-1891. He remained interested in the structure of aluminosilicates throughout his entire scientific career.

Before V.I. Vernadsky, all silicates, including aluminosilicates, were considered as salts of silicic acids. V.I. Vernadsky established that aluminum oxide, like silicon oxide, plays an acidic role and is part of complex alumina-silica acids.

Having summarized the vast factual material on kaolins, mica and other minerals, V.I. Vernadsky developed and put forward his theory of the structure of aluminosilicates - the theory of the kaolin, or mica, core, which the famous French chemist Lechatelier later called brilliant. According to this theory, the structure of aluminosilicates is based on the kaolin core common to these minerals, which contains two aluminum atoms, two silicon atoms and seven oxygen atoms. V.I. Vernadsky considers feldspars, micas and other aluminosilicates as salts of aluminosilicic acid, i.e. as products of the addition of a number of cation elements to the specified nucleus: sodium, potassium, calcium and others.

The theory of the kaolin core was extremely fruitful in elucidating the structure, genesis and classification of minerals. V.I. Vernadsky’s views on the structure and origin of minerals became dominant and became part of teaching. Thanks to the use of X-ray diffraction methods for the structure of a number of minerals, including aluminosilicates, the internal distribution of various elements in them has been studied quite well. In his report on a foreign business trip for 1932, i.e. more than 40 years after he developed his theory of the structure of aluminosilicates, V.I. Vernadsky could write: “In Berlin - Charlottenburg (Prof. Eitel and Gerlinger) I am now for the first time I saw in the models derived from X-ray surveys in space that kaolin core, which I theoretically derived in 1891 and expressed on a plane.”

An interesting assessment of V.I. Vernadsky’s provisions on the structure of aluminosilicates was given by Schibold, one of the main researchers of the structure of silicates using X-ray methods. He writes: “It is of great interest that the quadruple ring predicted by Vernadsky with brilliant intuition was indeed confirmed in principle, and its presence was also proven in minerals similar to feldspars.”

Thus, modern research has confirmed the main provisions of the theory of V.I. Vernadsky and thereby showed that the scientific thought of mineralogists and crystal chemists, thanks to his works, thanks to his amazing power of scientific foresight, has been and is moving along the right path.

Thanks to the work of Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, mineralogy has transformed from a dry empirical discipline containing countless scattered facts into a genuine science. During his work in Moscow, V.I. Vernadsky developed questions of isomorphism - one of the most interesting and important areas of genetic mineralogy and geochemistry. In his work “Paragenesis of the chemical elements of the earth’s crust”, he divided all the chemical elements that make up the Earth into 18 groups - “natural isomorphic series”. In each row he placed elements that can replace each other in the formation of common minerals. A mineral common to two elements is a mineral that, to a certain extent, does not change its crystal structure when these elements are replaced with each other. Such elements are called isomorphic. At the same time, he established a very important point that isomorphic series are not constant, but “move and change under the influence of changes in temperature and pressure.” He showed that under conditions of low temperatures and pressures, some elements combine into common minerals and give isomorphic mixtures; under conditions of high pressures and low temperatures, others; and where high temperatures and pressures prevail (magma solidification zone), third ones. From the series of V.I. Vernadsky it is clear that the number of elements capable of replacing each other in the formation of common minerals, as a rule, increases with increasing temperature and pressure.

V. I. Vernadsky’s research in the field of isomorphism establishes guidelines that make it possible to predict where and what elements can be found together, i.e., they allow a conscious approach to the study of the distribution of chemical elements in rocks and minerals as products of different processes: igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary This, in turn, puts the search for mineral deposits on a scientific basis. Since these series are not constant, then when a rock consisting of certain groups of elements transitions to an environment of other temperatures and pressures (which happens all the time in the earth’s crust), the elements are rearranged, their concentration or dispersion occurs.

V.I. Vernadsky unfolded a picture reflecting the colossal processes of movement of chemical elements of the earth's crust in time and space, changes in their combinations with each other, i.e., he presented their history.

V.I. Vernadsky paid a lot of attention to the study of the chemical composition of the earth's crust. He clarified the available data on its chemical composition, divided all the elements according to their participation in the composition of the earth’s crust into 10 groups (decades), and established new clarks (percentage content of an element in the earth’s crust) for a number of rare elements. V. I. Vernadsky carried out a great deal of work on the study of rare and trace elements (rubidium, cesium, thallium, etc.).

A characteristic feature of V.I. Vernadsky as a scientist is his amazing ability to notice phenomena, correctly assess the scientific significance of new discoveries and use them for the further development of science.

For example, in connection with the discovery of radioactivity, Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky drew attention to the role of radioactive elements in the life of our planet. In the scientific circles of geologists and scientists dealing with the Earth as a geological body, there has been and continues to be debate about the sources of energy that determine the processes occurring in the earth's crust. A number of researchers believe that this activity is based on thermal energy preserved from that stage of the Earth’s development when the Earth was still in a molten state; others see the sources of this energy in the processes of compression of the Earth, due to its cooling, etc. V.I. Vernadsky, in connection with the work of Joly, developed the position that the main energy source of all geochemical processes occurring in the earth’s crust lies in the processes radioactive decay. “The heat,” he writes, “released under the influence of the constant destruction of the atoms of certain radioactive elements (which does indeed occur), is completely sufficient to explain all these grandiose phenomena.”

Studying minerals, as well as the processes of their origin, change and disappearance, V.I. Vernadsky naturally moved on to studying the history of the chemical elements that make up these minerals. This was a natural step towards deepening his understanding of the chemical processes of the earth's crust, since it was clear to him that each mineral represents a temporary structure of ever-migrating elements. By moving on to a more systematic study of the history of chemical elements in the earth's crust, V.I. Vernadsky thus created a new science - geochemistry. V.I. Vernadsky formulated the tasks of geochemistry, established the place of this science among other geological disciplines and indicated the problems and ways of its future development. Vladimir Ivanovich contributed many specific facts and empirical generalizations to this science.

V.I. Vernadsky divided all the elements of the Mendeleev system into six groups, depending on their geochemical role in the structure and processes of the earth’s crust: 1) noble gases, 2) noble metals, 3) cyclic elements, 4) trace elements, 5) elements highly radioactive, 6) rare earth elements.

He paid special attention to the group of cyclic elements, which make up most of the weight of the earth's crust, and to the group of highly radioactive elements, in the decay of which he saw the source of energy for almost all geochemical and geological processes occurring in the earth's crust. Cyclic elements are so named because they repeatedly pass through various regions of the earth’s crust in their history, form in them various compounds unique to these geospheres, and return again to the state from which this or that cycle began. Here we see a further development of his previous idea of ​​“natural isomorphic series”. At the same time, V.I. Vernadsky points out that all cyclic elements are organogenic, that is, they take part in the structure of living matter, which is a very important factor in the movement of chemical elements in the earth’s crust.

V.I. Vernadsky attached no less importance to the group of highly radioactive elements. In living matter and radioactive elements, despite their relatively insignificant quantities, he saw the main factors in the geochemical processes of the earth's crust.

Thus, while studying the history of chemical elements in the earth's crust, V.I. Vernadsky for the first time paid due attention to the role of living matter - plant and animal organisms - in the history of chemical elements on Earth. In this regard, V.I. Vernadsky devoted the last 15-20 years of his life to studying the chemical composition and prevalence of animal and plant organisms. He studied their participation in the reactions and movements of chemical elements in the earth's crust (biosphere) and created a new science - biogeochemistry, which has enormous scientific and economic significance.

Now the problems of biogeochemistry are closely related to a number of problems of mineralogy, agrochemistry, soil science, plant physiology, geobotany, biochemistry and cover deep issues of the development of life on Earth, as they relate to the relationships between inorganic and organic nature. At present, the evolution of flora and fauna, issues of mineral nutrition of plants, and a number of their diseases cannot be successfully developed without solving a number of problems of biogeochemistry, without taking into account the distribution of microelements in soils, waters, and plants of one or another area of ​​the earth’s crust. Biogeochemistry gives new light to the laws of variability and heredity, i.e., the basic laws of Darwinism. Based on the data of biogeochemistry, V.I. Vernadsky rightly asserted that: “The connection between the composition of an organism and the chemistry of the earth’s crust and the enormous primary importance that living matter has in the mechanism of the earth’s crust indicate to us that the solution to life cannot be obtained only by "the study of the living organism itself. To resolve it, we must turn to the primary source - the earth's crust."

Studying the geochemical role of organisms in the life of the Earth, Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky came to the conclusion that the free oxygen of the biosphere and even “the earth’s gas envelope, our air, is the creation of life.”

To develop biogeochemistry, V.I. Vernadsky organized a biogeochemical laboratory within the USSR Academy of Sciences and became its head. In connection with the 80th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Vernadsky, this laboratory, by decision of the Soviet government, was renamed the Laboratory of Geochemical Problems and was named after the hero of the day.

One of the great merits of V.I. Vernadsky is that he taught to consider processes in the earth’s crust and the life of the Earth as a whole as part of the cosmos.

While developing the most important theoretical problems, V.I. Vernadsky never forgot about the need for practical conclusions from the achievements of his science. An ardent patriot of his homeland, he cared about increasing the productive forces of Russia and the need for its independent development. During the First World War, in his articles “From the Past” and “War and the Progress of Science,” published in 1915, V. I. Vernadsky accused the tsarist government of not protecting Russia from foreign domination and not being able to use productive forces of the country and thereby increased the forces of the enemy - Germany.

“For us,” wrote V.I. Vernadsky, “a lot became clear during the war, and first of all, it became clear to everyone that previously it was clear to few - our economic dependence on Germany, which is completely unacceptable with proper government management. That This has become clear to Russian society and is obviously a fact of the greatest importance, for the consequence of such consciousness will inevitably be a change in the state of affairs.

One of the most important factors in such liberation is the use of one’s wealth by one’s own efforts.”

He criticized the state of affairs in Russia from the position of a scientist. He pointed out that in our country only 31 chemical elements out of 61 used by the technology of the First World War are mined. He, like Mendeleev, advocated the study of the productive forces of Russia and stated that in the depths of Russia there are all types of minerals. In asserting this, he proceeded from the fact that on the territory of our vast country there are remnants of almost all geological formations and that in its depths geological processes, including ore-forming ones, have occurred and are occurring, inherent in all other parts of the land of the globe.

The theoretical provisions of V.I. Vernadsky about the presence of aluminum, potassium and other ores were completely confirmed by post-revolutionary geological research.

V.I. Vernadsky was an excellent organizer. He energetically and persistently put his ideas into practice, breaking all sorts of barriers. To study the productive forces of Russia, he created the Commission for the Study of the Natural Productive Forces of the Country (KEPS).

Based on the extensive work carried out by this Commission under the leadership of V.I. Vernadsky and on his initiative, a number of permanent institutions were organized: the Institute of Geography, the Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, the Radium Institute, the Ceramic Institute, the Optical Institute, the Commission for the Study of Permafrost (now the Institute named after Academician V. A. Obruchev), Commission on Mineral Waters, Meteor Committee, Commission on Isotopes and others. The successor to KEPS was the Council for the Study of the Productive Forces of the USSR.

V.I. Vernadsky did a lot in the field of studying the history of Russian science. He did a lot of work at his own expense to collect handwritten materials by M.V. Lomonosov. He transferred the collected materials to the Academy of Sciences; he conducted extensive research to highlight the role and significance of M.V. Lomonosov in Russian and world science.

V.I. Vernadsky paid exceptional attention to training and was a strict and attentive teacher. Almost all mineralogists and geochemists of the Soviet Union, as well as a number of mineralogists and geochemists in foreign countries (France, Czechoslovakia) are students of V.I. Vernadsky.

V.I. Vernadsky enjoyed exceptional authority both in the USSR and abroad.

One of the main works of V.I. Vernadsky - “Essays on Geochemistry” - was translated into French, German, Japanese and went through several editions.

V.I. Vernadsky was a member of the French and Czechoslovak Academies of Sciences and was a member of a number of scientific foreign societies.

He was vice-president of the International Commission for Determining the Age of the Earth by Radioactive Methods.

For his scientific works, V.I. Vernadsky was awarded the first degree prize named after J.V. Stalin, and on his 80th birthday he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

In recent years, V. I. Vernadsky’s health began to deteriorate significantly. But he never stopped scientific work, working most of the time at home. But often, with the help of those accompanying him, he came to meetings of the Department of Geological and Geographical Sciences, scientific councils of institutes, attended meetings of non-academic institutions and took an active part in them; he worked a lot on his memoirs, followed the work of his many students and the scientific school he created.

The result of his latest scientific work was a report on the need to study the mineralogy of space, which he made at a meeting of mineralogists in October 1944.

In 1943, Natalya Egorovna, the wife of Vladimir Ivanovich, died, whose death he took very hard. He lived with her for more than 55 years and, as he himself noted, he owed a lot to her in his scientific activities.

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky loved his country and his people; loved and was proud of them, proud of the vast expanses of our Motherland, inexhaustible natural resources, and the heroic Russian people.

This love and devotion to the people and country was for Vladimir Ivanovich the guiding star of his life, scientific and government activities.

The most important works of V. I. Vernadsky: On the sillimanite group and the role of alumina in silicates, "Bulletin of the Society of Natural Scientists", M., 1891; Paragenesis of chemical elements in the earth's crust, "Diary of the XII Congress of Russian Naturalists and Doctors", 1910, No. 10; Mineralogy, M., 1910, parts 1 and 2; experience of descriptive mineralogy, vol. I - Native elements, St. Petersburg, 1908, century. 1; 1909, c. 2; 1910, c. 3; 1912, c. 4; 1914, c. 5; vol. II - Sulfur and selenium compounds, Pg., 1918, century. 1; 1922, c. 2; History of minerals of the earth's crust, Pg., 1923 (vol. I, v. 1), L., 1927 (vol. I, v. 2), 1934 (vol. I, v. 1 and 2); Essays and speeches, Pg., 1922; Biosphere, L., 1926, v. 1 and 2; Essays on Geochemistry, L., 1927; Terrestrial silicates, aluminosilicates and their analogues, M. - L., 1937; Biogeochemical essays 1922-1932, M. - L., 1940.

About V.I. Vernadsky: Articles by V. A. Obruchev, "News of the USSR Academy of Sciences", geological series, 1945, No. 2; Vlasova K. A. and Shcherbakova D. I., Notes of the All-Union Mineralogical Society", 1945; "Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Sciences", 1945, No. 3; Berg L.S., Essays on the history of Russian geographical discoveries, M.-L.,. 1946.