Johnny Biosphere: limnologist and ecological advocate

摘要

Jack Vallentyne's journey from pure academic limnologist to globe-carrying ecological advocate was seemingly predetermined from the beginning. An auspicious start at Queen's University led to graduate school at Yale University under the direction of G. Evelyn Hutchinson, an outstanding authority on the influence of living organisms on the chemistry of the Earth. Under the influence of this maverick and intellectual giant, it was during these early years in his career that Jack gained his first understanding of the workings of the planetary ecological system that he was later to consistently refer to as the Biosphere. He conducted research that lead to a seminal publication in the American Scientist in 1957 entitled, Principles of Modern Limnology, and by the summer of 1980 had strapped a globe to his back for the very first time at the First Global Conference on the Future (Toronto, 1980). Thus Johnny Biosphere was born.