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George Ter-Stepanian, environmentalist and author of Wiser Than Humans

George Ter-Stepanian was born in 1907 to Armenian parents in Tbilisi (then part of the Russian Empire). He was a prominent scholar, an internationally recognized scientist in the field of soil mechanics and engineering geology. Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor and Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, he authored several monographs and more than 300 scientific articles, 80 of which were published outside of the former Soviet Union. His main research subjects were mathematics, engineering geology, soils mechanics and ecology. Among his many scientific contributions, he was one of the founders of the study of landslides, as well as the originator of the theories of depth creep of slopes, the structural composition of post-ice-age clay and suspension pressure acting against filtration.

As a scientist, and over a professional career spanning 70 years, Ter-Stepanian witnessed how human activity, both justified and irrational, impacted the environment. In 1984, he formulated the notion of the ‘Technogene,’ a new geological era that results from the impact of human activity (and one in which we are currently immersed, particularly as it becomes more and more recognized by the scientific society. George Ter-Stepanian, Beginning of the Quinary, or the
‘Technogene,’ Engineering-Geological Analysis. Yerevan:
Armenian Academy of Sciences Press, 1985. Also Beginning
of the Technogene, in Bulletin IAEG, Paris, 1988, no. 38. He was always deeply concerned about the future of our planet and the environmental catastrophe that threatened its future. He remained dedicated to making people understand how urgent it was to take immediate steps to avert such a tragedy from occurring.

Ter-Stepanian felt that his greatest personal and scientific contribution was to the preservation of nature and the environment in Armenia. In 1956, he opposed a government plan that would overuse the water supply of Lake Sevan (the largest freshwater alpine lake in the world, located 1916 metres above sea level) to generate hydroelectric power. Using technical and economic projections, he demonstrated the error and inexpediency of the project, warning that it would lead to the irreparable ruin of the lake. His intervention was pivotal for the preservation of the lake; due to his efforts, the breathtakingly beautiful Lake Sevan was saved and Ter-Stepanian’s name is now irrefutably associated with its rescue. George Ter-Stepanian, a biography (2003),
in Haykakan Hamarot Hanragitaran Chors
Hatorov [Armenian Concise Encyclopaedia
in Four Volumes]. Yerevan: Armenian
Encyclopaedia Publishing House, vol. 4,
pp. 737-738.

Later, in the 1980s, Ter-Stepanian opposed the construction of a dumpsite for radioactive waste near the Armenian Nuclear Power Station in the Ararat Valley, 30 km away from Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, which has a population of 1.5 million. This would have poisoned the waters of the Ararat Artesian Basin, the only source of fresh drinking water for this most densely populated urban part of Armenia. He succeeded in preventing the construction due to the wide recognition of his scientific achievements and his international reputation, by which he was able to personally enlist eminent scientists from around the world and engineering authorities in Moscow to oppose the project.

It was during these battles in the early 1980s that the idea of writing a novel first occurred to Ter-Stepanian. He decided to write a science fiction novel to enlighten people about the devastating ecological conditions; though these weren’t new problems, the existing literature on ecological issues was dense and scientific and, hence, inaccessible to the general reader. He intended the material to be presented as an exciting thriller to make it interesting to a wider readership. He believed that a science fiction novel would serve as a powerful and metaphorical vehicle through which to share his concerns and make a plea to his fellow citizens to take decisive and necessary measures.

A man of prophetic vision, Ter-Stepanian applied his profound knowledge in a vast variety of disciplines in an effort to alert society to environmental problems and the urgency of environmental protection. He was a leader of the environmental movement in his native Armenia, and his participation was key in the resolution of several important environmental conflicts. Dr. Ter-Stepanian passed away at age 99 in Montreal.