James Lovelock? Autodidact, Polymath, originator of the Gaia theory. I was reminded of him when I watched this wonderful and recent video from Tom Scott on reanimating hamsters and the first microwave ovens. Seriously.
Lovelock was interviewed - he is over 100 years old and as sharp as a tack.
The video referenced his latest book: Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence which I picked up from the library.
He is talking about his initial paper on Gaia and this line caught my eye:
With few exceptions, the battle of Gaia was a gentlemanly affair. Unusually for a scientific contest, we had agreed to disagree. It is important to note that, had I been dependent on grants to fund my research, it could not have been done. In practice, all the costs, including my income and travel, came from payments I received for solving the technical problems of government services and industry.
Academia almost everywhere behaved, albeit more gently, like the Church in Galileo's time. I find it extraordinary that so many good scientists should have befuddled themselves trying to force classical logic to explain the inexplicable. But then an even larger number of clerics have done the same.
Both of my parents were academic and wanted me to follow in their footsteps. I grew up seeing firsthand the effects of the infighting and politics and wanted nothing of it. Lovelock's restrained commentary really resonated.
As for the Gaia hypothesis, I love George Carlin's commentary:
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