Volodymyr Vernadskyi

Volodymyr Vernadskyi played a vital role in the formation of several branches of modern science: biogeochemistry, hydrogeology, geochemistry, geochemistry of landscapes, genetic mineralogy, radiology, science knowledge, and the doctrine about living matter. He is the founder of theories about biosphere and noosphere, and the author of numerous scientific works.

He is also well known to every Ukrainian because one of the largest libraries in Ukraine – the National Library in Kyiv – was named after him. In 1918, he took part in its foundation and became its first director.

Volodymyr Vernadskyi was born on March 12, 1863 in Saint-Petersburg, into a family of nobles. His father, Ivan Vernadskyi, was born in Kyiv and headed political economy department at Kyiv University. When he moved to Moscow – he headed the department at Moscow University as well. When Volodymyr was 4 years old, his family moved to Kharkiv, where he passed his childhood years.

In 1885, Volodymyr Vernadskyi graduated from the Natural Science Department of the Physics and Mathematics faculty of the Saint-Petersburg University. During 1888–1890, he worked in Munich and Paris. In 1898, he became a professor at Moscow University, and in 1909 – an academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

Volodymyr Vernadskyi was not aloof from all the political events that took place in the country after the February Revolution of 1917. He took the job of Deputy Minister of Education in the Provisional Government, but after Bolsheviks came to power in November 1917, he moved to Ukraine, where lived in Poltava and in Kyiv.

During existence of the Ukrainian State Volodymyr Vernadskyi played one of the main roles in the foundation and becoming of Ukrainian science and in the development of scientific institutions. When the idea of the foundation of Ukrainian Academy of Science was discussed, Volodymyr Vernadskyi headed the commission for the development of the draft law on its establishment and also the National Library, the National Museum, and other scientific institutions.

When Pavlo Skoropadskyi signed “Law of the Ukrainian State on the establishment of the Ukrainian Academy of Science in Kyiv” on November, 14, 1918 and approved its statute, working staff, and institutions, Volodymyr Vernadskyi became its first President, elected at the joint meeting of the Ukrainian Academy of Science on November, 27, 1918.

Volodymyr Vernadskyi was also one of the key players in the foundation of the National Library. On August, 2, 1918, Hetman Pavlo Skoropdskyi signed the law “About the formation of the Fund of the National Library of the Ukrainian State,” which was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian State.

Volodymyr Vernadskyi, together with Ahatanhel Krumskyi, Serhii Iefremov, Hnat Zhytetskyi, and other prominent scientists and cultural leaders, became a member of the Provisional Committee for the foundation of the Library, which was active from August, 23, 1918 to April, 8, 1923.

Vernadskyi himself collected and bought books for library collections, issued security documents for the Library, and organized the transfer of funds of libraries of closed institutions to the National Library. The Development of the Library Statute belonged to Vernadskyi himself.

During the Soviet period, the position of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences has significantly deteriorated, and Vernadskyi himself was treated for typhus for a long time. Back in 1920, he was elected the rector of Tavria University. In 1921, Volodymyr Vernadskyi returned to Petrograd, where he was appointed as director of the Radium Institute. From 1922 to 1926, he gave lectures on geochemistry at Paris University Sorbonne.

In 1926, Vernadskyi returned to Leningrad and continued his scientific activity. His monographs, “Essays on Geochemistry” and “Bio-sphere,” were published there. Additionally, he founded and headed the commission for the study of heavy water. He also founded the Department of Living Substances at the USSR Academy of Science. 

The main focus of Volodymyr Vernadskyi’s scientific work was the study of mineralogy and crystallography. He considered the history of the occurrence of the important minerals in Earth’s crust and determined their chemical composition and physicochemical formations. During his whole life, the scientist worked on issues of radio geology and also became a creator of a new, for those days, scientific field – biochemistry. Volodymyr Vernadskyi died on January 6, 1945 in Moscow.

Despite the fact that the scientist lived most of his life in Russia, he knew the history of Ukraine very well. He even wrote the article, “Ukrainian Question and the Russian Public,” where he expressed his thoughts about the fate of Ukraine. Before his death, Vernadskyi presented his memories to the Ukrainian Academy of Science. On the front page of the memories, the scientist wrote: “I believe in the great future of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Academy of Science...”