Dr. James Lovelock Receives The First Goi Peace Award

The 2000 Goi Peace Award, the first of this international prize, was presented to the British scientist Dr. James Lovelock.

Dr. Lovelock proposed the “Gaia Theory” stating that the Earth is a living organism that sustains a favorable environment with a self-regulating mechanism. The Gaia Theory suggests that humanity is a part of this great living system, and that our welfare depends upon the continued health of the Earth as a whole. This theory has contributed to changing people’s awareness of the Earth, as well as stimulating the global environmental movement.

James Lovelock is an independent scientist, inventor and author. He lives in West Devon, England, where he has planted thousands of trees on his land and works out of a barn-turned-laboratory. With doctorates in biophysics and medicine, he was a Visiting Scientist at Yale and Harvard Universities, and a Honorary Visiting Fellow of Green College, Oxford University among others. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, London in 1974 and in 1990 he was awarded the first Amsterdam Prize for the Environment by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written many books and articles, including “The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth” and most recently, his autobiography “Homage to Gaia.”

Dialogue Session: Dr. James Lovelock Meets Young People