wolfgang hofkirchner

on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the death of vladimir i. vernadsky, mineralogist, geochemist and historian of science, peter krüger, who was engaged with my vernadsky-edition from 1997, wrote a touching reminiscence of a great spirit. krüger quotes from vernadsky’s diaries, which gives us insight into vernadsky’s life under stalin. (together with édouard le roy and pierre teilhard de chardin, vernadsky coined the notion of the “noosphere”.) i recommend this article to everybody interested in global thinkers. it’s published (in german) in geohistorica 6, 31-41, berlin 2010 (issn 1865-0155). the title is: Wladimir Iwanowitsch Wernadskij – eine würdigung zur 65. wiederkehr seines todestages.

* my translation of the quote: “in that worldwide clash, we are a totalitarian state that is in diametrical opposition to those principles for which our people made the revolution and which were the cause for the assault upon us.” (on 21 january 1941 vernadsky wrote – my translation: “police-communism, actually, eats away the state structure… but in spite of that, something great is going on…” on 30 july 1941 – my translation: “the noosphere we are living in is, in my judgment, the basic regulator of our world.” though he was aware of the decay of the soviet union, vernadsky was convinced that hitlerism was doomed to failure because it was contrary to the development of the noosphere, the cooperation of those who are sensible. – and today? the development of the noosphere is more urgent than ever. but the political class does not seem to set the right priorities. just think of education policy in the age of neoliberalism.)