1863 – 1945. An outstanding scientist. Geologist, geochemist, biologist, crystallographer, philosopher... The creator of biogeochemistry. Credited with the concept of “noosphere”. Academician.
Quotes:
1. A scientific hypothesis always goes beyond the facts that formed the basis for its construction.
2. A thinking and working person is a measure of everything. He is a huge planetary phenomenon.
3. The species of Homo sapiens is not the pinnacle of evolution at all, and the man of the future will be dramatically different from the contemporary man as “brain structures will be altered in substance.”
4. Scientific development calls for appreciating of the complete freedom of the individual, of the personal spirit. For only when this condition is met can one scientific worldview be replaced with another, created by the free and independent work of an individual.
5. We cannot defer our care for the great and eternal till the time when basic needs can be met fully. Otherwise it would be too late. We will hand off material goods to people whose ideals will be “bread and circuses.”
6. To educate is not only to nurture and bring up but also to direct the heart and the mind - on the mother’s side doesn’t that call for character, science, development, access to all interests of the humankind?
7. A scientific worldview imbued with natural science and mathematics is the greatest force not only of the present, but also of the future.
8. The real spiritual life, the real ideological side of life calls for us precisely to make the best of our bodies and minds alike.
9. The scientific truth develops in a complex and roundabout way, and not all scientific worldview serves as its expression.
10. Quite often, truth is more easily seen by the heretics of science rather than orthodox representatives of scientific thought.
