Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist and chemist (born 1863)

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, also spelt Volodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky, was a Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet mineralogist and geochemist who is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Vladimir Vernadsky is most noted for his 1926 book The Biosphere in which he inadvertently worked to popularize Eduard Suess's 1875 term biosphere, by hypothesizing that life is the geological force that shapes the earth. In 1943 he was awarded the Stalin Prize. Vernadsky's portrait is depicted on the Ukrainian ₴1,000 hryvnia banknote.

January 6 is the sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 359 days remain until the end of the year.