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Stephan Harding (8 July 1953 – 2 September 2024) was a British zoologist and ecologist. He specialized in holism and the Gaia hypothesis and was a founding member of Schumacher College, where he coordinated the master's program in holistic sciences.

Biography

Born in Venezuela in 1953, Harding earned an undergraduate degree in zoology from Durham University and a doctorate in the behavioral ecology of muntjacs from Oxford University. While at Oxford, he conducted field research in Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. After his studies, he was a founding member of Schumacher College and became close associates with James Lovelock. At the college, he researched deep ecology and led the holistic sciences master's program for twenty years.

During his career, Harding collaborated with various scientists. He most closely worked with Lovelock, whose Gaia hypothesis considered the Earth to be a living being, creating its own habitat. The pair worked on a model that would generate feedback between organisms and their environment.

Harding died in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2024.

Works

• Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia (2006)
• Gaia Alchemy: The Reuniting of Science, Psyche, and Soul (2022)

As editor

• Grow Small, Think Beautiful: Ideas for a Sustainable World from Schumacher College (2011)

As translator

• Courting the Dawn: Poems of Lorca (2019)

References

1. Dellinger, Drew (5 September 2024). "Schumacher College Closes Doors at Dartington as Legendary Professor, Stephan Harding, Passes". Drew Dellinger. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
2. "Stephan Harding". Center for Humans & Nature.
3. "Stephan Harding". Sophia Centre Press. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022.
4. "Dr Stephan Harding remembers James Lovelock". Dartington Trust. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
5. "Dr Stephan Harding". Dartington Trust.
6. "Stephan Harding". Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (in Spanish).
7. Massó, Robert (5 February 2022). "El retorno de Gaia". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2024.
8. Miotto, Karina (5 September 2024). "Stephan Harding e seu legado mais que planetário". ((oeco)) (in Portuguese). Retrieved 7 September 2024.
9. "Animate Earth: An interview with Stephan Harding". The Gaia Foundation.
10. Bollier, David (1 June 2022). "Dr. Stephan Harding on Gaia Alchemy and the Animate Earth". Think Resilience. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
11. Fresneda, Carlos (5 May 2012). "Lo pequeño es hermoso". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2024.

• 1953 births
• 2024 deaths
• British zoologists
• British ecologists
• Alumni of Collingwood College, Durham
• British people of Latin American descent