[[File:1889-VernadskyVI-Paris.jpg|thumb|right|VladimirVladímir Vernadski, Paris 1889]]
VernadskyVernadski wasva bornnéixer ina [[SaintSant Petersburg]], [[RussianImperi EmpireRus]], onel {{OldStyleDateCalendari Julià|12 Marchde març|1863|28 Februaryde febrer}} ina familyla offamília thede nativel'economista russoucraïnès de [[KievKíev]] residents Russian-Ukrainian economist [[Ivan VernadskyVernadski]] andi musicla instructorprofessora de música [[Hanna KonstantynovychKonstantínovitx]]. AccordingtoSegons familyla legendllegenda de la família, hisel fatherseu waspare aera descendent ofdels [[ZaporozhianZaporoges|cosacs Cossackszaporoges]].<ref>{{cite ref-web|url=http://nplu.org/event.php?id=62 |script-titletítol=uk:Книжкова виставка - «Життя, присвячене науці» - до 150-річчя від дня народження В. І. Вернадського (1863–1945)|trans-titletítoltraduït=BookExposició exhibitionde llibres - "AVida lifededicada devoteda tola scienceciència" - theal 150th150 anniversaryaniversari ofdel VInaixement Vernadskydel V.I. Vernadski (1863-1945)|languagellengua=ukucraïnès|publishereditor=Nplu.org |datedata=12 Februaryde febrer del 2013|accessdateconsulta=17 Mayde maig del 2015}}</ref> He had been a professor of [[political economy]] in [[Kiev]] before moving to Saint Petersburg. His mother was a Russian noblewoman of Ukrainian Cossack descent.<ref>В.В. Томазов. Генеалогія В.І. Вернадського: походження та родинні зв’язки</ref>
Vernadsky graduated from [[Saint Petersburg State University]] in 1885. As the position of [[mineralogist]] in [[Saint Petersburg State University]] was vacant, and [[Vasily Dokuchaev]], a soil scientist, and [[Alexey Pavlov]], a geologist, had been teaching Mineralogy for a while, Vernadsky chose to enter Mineralogy. He wrote to his wife Natasha on 20 June 1888 from Switzerland:
{{citació|...to collect facts for their own sake, as many now gather facts, without a program, without a question to answer or a purpose, is not interesting. However, there is a task which someday those chemical reactions which took place at various points on earth; these reactions take place according to laws which are known to us, but which, we are allowed to think, are closely tied to general changes which the earth has undergone by the earth with the general laws of celestial mechanics. I believe there is hidden here still more to discover when one considers the complexity of chemical elements and the regularity of their occurrence in groups...}}
