ABSTRACT
James E. Lovelock, the author of Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, has always cherished the freedom to follow his own ideas; for this reason, he never associated himself for long with a particular research or academic organization. As an independent scientist and inventor, Lovelock invented a number of scientific devices, with the electron capture detector, a device used to detect and measure atmospheric gases such as chlorofluorocarbons ("CFCs"), being the most important. After 1979, other than concentrating on scientific invention, he became much more engaged in research on Gaia and in writing books and articles in scientific journals. The main focus of his research was further development of his Gaia hypothesis. With the help of collaborators he developed the hypothesis into a theory to explain how human interventions in the environment such as the emission of greenhouse gases would interfere with the Earth's homeostatic condition, endangering its delicate climate system.
