Lovelock, James Ephraim (1919– )

British scientist who began the study of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere in the 1960s, and who later elaborated the ‘Gaia hypothesis’ – the concept of the Earth as a single organism, or ecosystem. The Gaia hypothesis, named after an ancient Greek earth goddess, views the planet as a self-regulating system in which all the individual elements coexist in a symbiotic relationship. In developing this theory (first published in 1968), Lovelock realized that the damage effected by humans on many of the Earth's ecosystems was posing a threat to the viability of the planet itself.

Lovelock invented the electron capture detector in the 1950s, a device for measuring minute traces of atmospheric gases. He developed the Gaia hypothesis while researching the possibility of life on Mars for NASA's space programme; it was not named ‘Gaia’ until some years later, at the suggestion of the writer William Golding.