James Lovelock (1919 - 2022)

James Lovelock - co-creator of the Gaia Hypothesis - has died on his 103rd birthday.

The Gaia Hypothesis sees the Earth almost as one giant organism, where living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings to form a self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. Topics related to the hypothesis include how the biosphere and the evolution of organisms affect the stability of global temperature, salinity of seawater, atmospheric oxygen levels, the maintenance of a hydrosphere of liquid water and other environmental variables that affect the habitability of Earth. 

The idea was first proposed in the 1960s and gained a lot of traction with the New Age and Pagan movements. However, while some of Lovelock's ideas have since been supported by science, the wider theory is yet to be fully accepted.

More information on the Gaia Hypothesis can be found here. 

It's a fascinating concept.