The Biosphere as a Region of Transformation of Cosmic Energy

Abstract

The biosphere may be regarded as a region of transformers that convert cosmic radiations into active energy in electrical, chemical, mechanical, thermal, and other forms. Radiations from all stars enter the biosphere, but we catch and perceive only an insignificant part of the total; this comes almost exclusively from the sun²⁶ The existence of radiation originating in the most distant regions of the cosmos cannot be doubted. Stars and nebulae are constantly emitting specific radiations, and everything suggests that the penetrating radiation discovered in the upper regions of the atmosphere by Hess²⁷ originates beyond the limits of the solar system, perhaps in the Milky Way, in nebulae, or in stars of the Mira Ceti type²⁸ The importance of this will not be clear for some time,²⁹ but this penetrating cosmic radiation determines the character and mechanism of the biosphere.

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And of that we receive only one half billionth of the total solar output (Lovins, Lovins, Krause, and Bach, 1981).

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See Hess, 1928.

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Mira Ceti is a long period variable star. Variable stars show periodic variations in brightness and surface temperature. Mira Ceti has an average period of 331 days.

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Here Vernadsky anticipates the discovery of cosmic background radiation (Weinberg, 1988).