James Lovelock (born in
1919) is an independent scientist, author, researcher and environmentalist who lives in
Cornwall, west of
Devon,
England. He is most famous for proposing and popularizing the
Gaia Hypothesis, in which he postulates that the Earth functions as a kind of
superorganism (term coined by
Lynn Margulis). He was educated at the
University of London and
Manchester University[?] and has a
Ph.D. in medicine. Within the United States he has taught at
Yale,
Baylor University[?] College of Medicine, and
Harvard University.
(info needed on his early life)
A lifelong inventor, some of his inventions were adopted by NASA in their program of planetary exploration. It was while working for NASA that Lovelock developed the Gaia Hypothesis.
Lovelock is currently president of the Marine Biology Association, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, London in 1974, and in 1990 was awarded the first Amsterdam Prize for the Environment by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. An independent scientist, inventor, and author, Dr. Lovelock works out of a barn-turned-laboratory in Cornwall.
- Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979, 3rd ed. 2000) Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192862189
- Ages of Gaia (1988, revised ed. 1995) Oxford University Press ISBN 0393312399
- Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine Gaia Books (1991 ed.) Oxford University Press (2001 ed.) ISBN 0195216741
- Homage to Gaia: The Life of an Independent Scientist Oxford University Press (2000) ISBN 0198604297 (Lovelock's autobiography).