Long unknown in the West, The Biosphere established the field of biogeochemistry and is one of the classic founding documents of what later became known as Gaia theory. It is the first sustained expression of the idea that life is a geological force that can change Earth's landforms, its climate, and even the contents of its atmosphere. A complete, unabridged translation has never before been available in English. This edition - complete with extensive annotations, an introductory essay placing the work in its historical context and explaining its relevance to readers today, and a foreword cosigned by a stellar group of international experts - will be the definitive edition of this classic work. "What Darwin did for life through time, Vernadsky did for life through space on a geological scale".

"What Darwin did for life through time, Vernadsky did for life through space on a geological scale." --Lynn Margulis This classic 1926 book is the first sustained expression of the idea, now widely accepted, that life is a geological force. It founded the field of biogeochemistry and is one of the seminal works in what is now known as Gaia theory. This edition, the first unexpurgated English translation, is fully annotated for the modern reader.

One The Biosphere in the Cosmos.- The Biosphere in the Cosmic Medium.- The Biosphere as a Region of Transformation of Cosmic Energy.- The Empirical Generalization and the Hypothesis.- Living Matter in the Biosphere.- The Multiplication of Organisms and Geochemical Energy in Living Matter 6o.- Photosynthetic Living Matter.- Some Remarks on Living Matter in the Mechanism of the Biosphere.- Two The Domain of Life.- The Biosphere: An Envelope of the Earth.- Living Matter of the First and Second Orders in the Biosphere 103 The Limits of Life.- The Limits of Life in the Biosphere.- Life in the Hydrosphere.- Geochemical Cycles of the Living Concentrations and Films of the Hydrosphere.- Living Matter on Land.- The Relationship Between the Living Films and Concentrations of the Hydrosphere and Those of Land.- Appendix I: A Biographical Chronology.- Appendix II: Vernadsky's Publications in English.- Acknowledgments.