What is James Lovelock?
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}} {{Infobox scientist | image = James Lovelock in 2005.jpg | caption = Lovelock in 2005 | name = James Lovelock | birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|7|26|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Letchworth]], [[Hertfordshire]], England, UK | death_date ={{death date and age|2022|7|26|1919|7|26|df=y}} | death_place = [[Dorset]], England, UK | nationality = British | field = [[Chemistry]], [[Earth science]] | work_institution = Independent researcher | alma_mater = [[University of Manchester]] <br /> [[London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine]] <br /> [[University of London]] <br/> [[Harvard Medical School]] | doctoral_students = | known_for = [[Electron capture detector]] <br /> [[Gaia hypothesis]] | prizes = [[Royal Society|FRS]], 1974 <br /> Tswett Medal, 1975 <br /> [[American Chemical Society|ACS]], 1980 <br /> [[World Meteorological Organization|WMO]] Norbert Gerbier Prize, 1988 <br /> [[Dr A.H. Heineken Prize]] for the Environment, 1990 <br /> [[Volvo Environment Prize]], 1996 <br />[[Order of the Companions of Honour|Companion of Honour]], 2003<br /> [[Wollaston Medal]][http://www.jameslovelock.org/page7.html], 2006<br /> Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and the Environment [http://www.sum.uio.no/research/projects/ongoing-projects/anc/about/#chairholders], 2007 | footnotes = }} '''James Ephraim Lovelock''' [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]] [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] [[Royal Society|FRS]] (26 July 1919 &ndash; 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist. He became an environmentalist and [[futurist]]. He was best known for proposing the [[Gaia hypothesis]]. This suggests the [[biosphere]] is a [[self-regulating]] [[system]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/nature.2014.15017| title = James Lovelock reflects on Gaia's legacy| journal = Nature| year = 2014| last1 = Ball | first1 = P. | s2cid = 125073140}}</ref> After the development of an instrument in the late 1960s, Lovelock was the first to detect the widespread presence of CFCs