From the History of Science
V. I. Vernadsky’s geocentrism
Aksenov G. P.
Vernadsky called the concept of the Earth as a planet the mankind’s most fundamental knowledge. Proceeding from this, the paper raises a question ofwhether the concept of biosphere is a limited concept or a novel universal paradigm applicable to both the natural and social sciences. The problem of scientific picture of the world had emerged back in the 17th century when geocentrism was replaced by heliocentrism. According to I.S.Dmitriev, during the trial of Galileo, Pope UrbanVIII maintained that science would never be able to create the final theory of the universe. No theory may curb the God’s omnipotence. A century later, such deliberately limited concept of the universe was created by I.Newton. His celestial mechanics described the relative motion only. In the Newtonian system, it is the Creator who establishes absolute time and space and thus restores the damped motion.In his concept of the biosphere, Vernadsky’s effectively decodes the classical mechanics’ absolute time and space. The mechanical motion of bodies is complemented by a new type of motion that is inherent to all living organisms. The living matter has not accidentally emerged from the inert matter. The organisms have their own time and space and these properties only emerge in the process of biogenesis. Vernadsky calculated the organisms’ reproduction rate constants that were found to be as accurate as physical constants.Based on this fundamental theory of living matter, Vernadsky developed a novel, biosphere cosmology according to which the Earth’s living envelope determines the Earth’s size, shape, and position in space. The biosphere ought to be described using the biogeochemical, energy, and information models. Essentially, Vernadsky’s logic of natural science is a modern scientific paradigm that may be called new geocentrism.
Key words: heliocentric system, mechanical picture of the world, new geocentrism., planetary astronomy, the doctrine of the biosphere, the principle of cosmicality of life, the size and shape of planet Earth
eLIBRARY.RU: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=29299581
REFERENCES →
Aksenov, G. P. (2003) Zakonchilos’ li nauchnoe odinochestvo V.I.Vernadskogo? Printsip kosmichnosti zhizni s 1921 g. po nastoiachshee vremia [Has V.I.Vernadsky’s Scientific Loneliness Ended? The Principle of Cosmicality of Life from 1921 to This Day], in: V.I.Vernadskii i sovremennost’. Materialy torzhestvennogo zasedaniia, posviachshennogo 140-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia akademika V.I.Vernadskogo (1863–1945) (Moskva, 12 marta 2003 g.) [Vernadsky and Modernity. Materials of Commemoration of Academician V.I.Vernadsky’s 140th Anniversary (1863–1945) (Moscow, 12 March 2003)]. Moskva: Nauka.
Aksenov, G. P. (2011) Nachalo kardinal’nogo raskhozhdeniia idei biosfery V.I.Vernadskogo i marksistskoi ideologii [The Beginning of a Profound Discrepancy between V. I.Vernadsky’s Ideas of the Biosphere and Marxist Ideology], in: Institut istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki im. S.I.Vavilova. Godichnaia nauchnaia konferentsiia, posviashchennaia 120-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia S.I.Vavilova, 2011 [Institute for the History of Science and Technology. Annual Scientific Conference Dedicated to the 120th Anniversary of S.I.Vavilov, 2011]. Мoskva: Ianus-K, pp. 376–379.
Aksenov, G. P. (2011) V logike vechnosti zhizni [Within the Logic of Eternity of Life]. Moskva: IIET RAN.
Aksenov, G. P. (2011) V.I.Vernadskii: publichnaia polemika s ideologiei [V.I.Vernadsky: Public Polemics with Ideology], Istoriia nauk o Zemle, no. 4, pp. 224–231.
Aksenov, G. P. (2014). Prichina vremeni: zhizn’ – dlenie – neobratimost’ [The Cause of Time: Life – Duration – Irreversibility]. Moskva: KR ASAND.
Aksenov, G. P. (2015) Rassimvolizatsiia Absoluta [Dissymbolization of the Absolute], Voprosy filosofii, no. 8, pp. 53–63.
Aksenov, G. P. (2016) Kosminta, ee obrazovanie i evolutsiia [Kosminta, Its Formation and Evolution], Zemlia i Vselennaia, no 4. pp. 90–101.
Aksenov, G. P. (2016) V.I.Vernadskii o prirode vremeni i prostranstva [V.I.Vernadsky on the Nature of Time and Space]. Moskva: LENAND.
Dmitriev, I. S. (1999) Neizvestnyi N’iuton. Siluet na fone epokhi [The Unknown Newton. A Silhouette Set Against the Era]. Sankt-Peterburg: Aleteiia.
Dmitriev, I. S. (2012) “A vse-taki oni pishut...” (protsess nad Galileem v trudakh sovremennykh rossiiskikh intellektualov) [And Still They Write... (The Trial of Galileo as Interpreted by Contemporary Russian Intellectuals], Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki, no. 3, pp. 29–55.
Dmitriev, I. S. (2015) Upriamyi Galilei [The Stubborn Galileo]. Moskva: NLO.
Grinevald, J. (1997) Introduction: The Invisibility of the Vernadskian Revolution, in: Vernadsky, V.I. The Biosphere.New York: Copernicus and Springer, pp. 20–32.
Grinevald, J. (2013) Vernadskianskaia revoliutsiia [The Vernadskian Revolution], Noosfera, no. 3, pp. 98–101.
Herivel, J. W. (1965) The Background of Newton’s Principia. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ianshina, F. T. (1999) Razvitie filosofskikh predstavlenii V.I.Vernadskogo [Development of V.I.Vernadsky’s Philosophical Ideas]. Moskva: Nauka.
Iaroshevskii, A.A. Krugovorot vechshestva zemnoi kory i problema geokhimicheskoi evolutsii biosfery [The Cycle of the Matter of Earth’s Crust and the Problem of Geochemical Evolution of the Biosphere]. In: Ianshin, A. L. (ed.) Razvitie idei V.I.Vernadskogo v geologicheskikh naukakh [Development of V.I.Vernadsky’s Ideas in Geological Sciences]. Moskva: Nauka, pp. 32–46.
Kedrov, B. M. and A.L.Ianshin (eds.) (1981) Stranitsy avtobiografii V.I.Vernadskogo [The Pages from V.I.Vernadsky’s Autobiography]. Moskva: Nauka
.Kizel’, V. A. (1985) Fizicheskie prichiny dissimmetrii zhivykh sistem [Physical Causes of Living Systems’ Dissymmetry]. Мoskva: Nauka.
Mochalov, I. I. and Onoprienko, V. I. (2008) V.I.Vernadskii: Nauka. Filosofiia. Chelovek [V.I.Vernadsky: Science. Philosophy. Man]. Moskva: IIEN R AN, book 1 (Nauka v istoricheskikh i sotsial’nykh aspektakh [Historical and Social Aspects of Science]).
N’iuton, I. (Newton, I.) (1989) Matematicheskie nachala natural’noi filosofii [The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy]. Moskva, Nauka.
N’iuton, I. (Newton, I.) (1993) Chetyre pis’ma sera Isaaka N’iutona doktoru Bentli, soderzhachshie nekotorye dokazatel’stva sushchestvovaniia Boga [Four Letters from Sir Isaac Newton to Doctor Bentley, Containing Some Arguments in Proof of a Deity], Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhnikiThe British Journal for the History of Science,vol. 32, pt. 4, no. 115, pp. 381–419.
Trincher, K. S. (1965) Biologiia i informatsiia. Elementy biologicheskoi termodinamiki. [Biology and Information. The Elements of Biological Thermodynamics]. Moskva: Nauka.
Vernadskii, V. I. (1922). Ocherki i rechi [Essays and Speeches]. Moskva and Petrograd: Nauchnoe khimiko-tekhnicheskoie izdatel’stvo, vol. 1.
Vernadskii, V. I. (1942) O geologicheskikh obolochkakh Zemli kak planety [On the Geological Envelopes of the Earth as a Planet], Izvestiia Akademii nauk SSSR, ser. geografii i geofiziki, no. 6, pp. 251–262.
Vernadskii, V. I. (1980) Izuchenie iavlenii zhizni i novaia fizika [The Studies on Life Phenomena and the New Physics], in: Vernadskii, V. I. Problemy biogeokhimii [Problems of Biogeochemistry]. Moskva: Nauka, pp. 246–295 (Trudy biogeokhimicheskoi laboratorii, vol. 16).
Vernadskii, V. I. (1980) O sostoianiiakh prostranstva v geologicheskikh iavleniiakh Zemli. Na fone rosta nauki X X stoletiia [On the States of Space in the Earth’s Geological Phenomena. In the Context of Science’s Growth in the 20th Century], in: Vernadskii, V.I.Problemy biogeokhimii [Problems of Biogeochemistry]. Moskva: Nauka, pp. 55–164 (Trudy biogeokhimicheskoi laboratorii, vol. 16).
Vernadskii, V. I. (1980) Znachenie biogeokhimii dlia poznaniia biosfery [Significance of Biogeochemistry for Comprehending the Biosphere], in: Vernadskii, V.I. Problemy biogeokhimii [Problems of Biogeochemistry]. Moskva: Nauka, pp. 10–54 (Trudy biogeokhimicheskoi laboratorii, vol. 16).
Vernadskii, V. I. (1988) Ob osadochnykh pereponkakh [On Sedimentary Membranes], Khimiia i zhizn, no. 3, pp. 29–35.
Vernadskii, V. I. (1988) Problema vremeni v sovremennoi nauke [The Problem of Time in Modern Science], in: Vernadskii, V.I. Filosofskie mysli naturalista [The Naturalist’s Philosophical Thoughts]. Moskva: Nauka, pp. 228–254.
Vernadskii, V. I. (1994) Nachalo i vechnost’ zhizni [The Beginning and Eternity of Life], in: Vernadskii, V.I. Zhivoe vechshetvo i biosfera [The Living Matter and the Biosphere]. Moskva, Nauka, pp. 262–283.
Vernadskii, V. I. (1997) O logike estestvoznaniia [On the Logic of Natural Science], in: Vernadskii, V. I. O nauke [On Science]. Dubna: Feniks, vol. 1, pp. 539–545.
Vernadskii, V. I. (2001) Khimicheskoe stroenie biosfery Zemli i ee okruzheniia [Chemical Composition of the Earth’s Biosphere and of Its Surroundings]. Moskva: Nauka.
Vernadskii, V. I. (2013) O geologicheskikh obolochkakh Zemli kak planety [On the Geological Envelopes of the Earth as a Planet], in: Vernadskii, V.I. Izbrannye sochineniia v 5 t. [Selected Works in 5 vols.]. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR, vol. 4 (1), pp. 90–102.
Vernadsky, V. I. (1997) The Biosphere. New York: Copernicus and Springer.
Zavarzin, G. A. (2001) Stanovlenie biosfery [The Formation of the Biosphere], Vestnik R A N, vol. 71, no. 11, pp. 988–1001.
Zavarzin, G. A. (2003) Lektsii po prirodovedcheskoi mikrobiologii [Lectures on Environmental Microbiology]. Moskva: Nauka.
Recommended bibliographic description
Aksenov G. P., V. I. Vernadsky’s geocentrism,
Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki [Studies in History of Science and Technology],
2017, vol. 38, no. 2, p. 246-267
© Studies in the History of Science and Technology: Quarterly scientific journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2015)
ISSN 0205-9606. Индекс 70143
