In the 1920s Vladimir I. Vernadsky, a Russian geologist who had defected to France, detailed the idea of the biosphere in his work "The biosphere" (1926), and described the fundamental principles of the biogeochemical cycles.
Po opazovanju dejstva da se življenje razvija le znotraj strogih omejitev za vsak prostor ki sestavljajo ozračja, hidrosfera in litosfera, je leta 1875 avstrijski geolog Eduard Suess predlagal izraz biosfera.