"Gaia Hypothesis"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sun, Dec 25, 2005 at 08:08:43AM -0500, Fred Shapiro wrote:
> "Gaia hypothesis" seems not to be in OED.  Below is the earliest I have
> found:
>
> 1974 Lynn Margulis & J. E. Lovelock in _Icarus_ Apr. 471  We review some
> recent information about the terrestrial atmosphere in the light of the
> "Gaia hypothesis" (Lovelock, 1972; Lovelock and Margulis, 1973).
>
> [The citations above refer to Lovelock, J. E. (1972). Gaia as seen through
> the atmosphere. _Atmos. Environ._ 6, 579-80; and Lovelock, J. E. and
> Margulis, L. (1973). Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the
> gaia hypothesis. _Tellus_.  The second article is described in the 1974
> paper as being "In press."  I have not confirmed that the term "Gaia
> hypothesis" appears in the first article, nor whether the second article,
> which apparently was not published until 1974, predated the occurrence
> above.]

We do have a draft entry for this, quoting the 1972 article (for _Gaia_
without _hypothesis_) and the _Tellus_ article (dated 1974); I can't
tell offhand when in 1974 this article was published.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED