Vladimir Vernadsky

Scientist.

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (12 March [O.S. 28 February] 1863 – 6 January 1945) was a Russian and Soviet mineralogist and geochemist who is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and of radiogeology.[1] His ideas of noosphere were an important contribution to Russian cosmism. He also worked in Ukraine, where he founded the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (now National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). He is most noted for his 1926 book The Biosphere in which he inadvertently worked to popularize Eduard Suess’ 1885 term biosphere, by hypothesizing that life is the geological force that shapes the earth.

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Source:

1.) Lynn Margulis; Dorion Sagan (2000). What Is Life?. University of California Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-520-22021-8. "Both the French paleontologist-priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the Russian atheist Vladimir Vernadsky agreed that Earth is developing a global mind."