Synopses & Reviews
"... scholarship of the highest order.... Kendall Bailes's book is destined to become a most valuable contribution to our knowledge of Russian and Soviet culture. It is insightful and eloquent." --Douglas R. Weiner
"... an insightful, richly researched portrait of Vernadsky's life and times... " --American Scientist
"This biography... not only tells a story full of human drama but also one rich with insights into Russia's higher-education and scientific-research establishments." --Washington Post Book World
"[This] concise book, with references that stop short of the Gorbachev era, will be the foundation for all future scholarship in English on Vernadsky." --Nature
"In this insightful exploration of Vernadsky's legacy, Kendall Bailes unveils a creative scholar-activist whose life and work speak more clearly about his time than our own." --Science
"The Bailes book... is fascinating... Read it!" --World Affairs Report
"Kendall Bailes has left us with a vivid portrayal of the life and times of Vladimir Vernadsky." --The Russian Review
"It offers a penetrating analysis of social realities in twentieth-century Russia, which helped create an intellectual culture dominated by ideological extremes." --American Historical Review
This first full-length English-language biography of Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945), one of the leading Russian intellectual figures of the twentieth century, focuses on the interaction between science and politics during Russia's revolutionary age.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Loren Graham
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
A Life for Science: Vernadsky's Development as a Scientist in Imperial Russia, 1863-1888
Chapter 2
Science and Society: The Origins of Vernadsky's Scientific School, 1888-1905
Chapter 3
The Politics of Moral Indignation: Vernadsky in Science and Politics, 1903-1914
Chapter 4
Science, War, and Revolution: Vernadsky and Soviet Science in Transition, 1914-1922
Chapter 5
The Vernadsky School and Soviet Science, 1922-1945
Chapter 6
The Legacy of Vernadsky's Scientific and Philosophical Thought
Notes
Biblography
Index