The Observer view on the brilliant scientist James Lovelock, co-creator of the Gaia theory | Observer editorial The polymath, who died last week, fought against the intellectual confines that stifle scientists Three years ago, at a meeting that was held to celebrate his 100th birthday, the scientist James Lovelock was the subject of a rigorous 90-minute interview on stage at Exeter University. The first question from the audience – which included a host of world-leading researchers – was put by a young man. “You are famous for thinking outside the box,” he asked. “How do you do it?” Lovelock sat thoughtfully for a few moments, before replying: “What box?” The story, recalled by the conservationist Tim Flannery, was typical of a scientist who never accepted the intellectual confines that so many other researchers erect around their studies over the years. Thus the death last week of Lovelock , at the age of 103, robs the world of a true scientific maverick. This was a polymath who never accepted a university-tenured position, although his academic influence was profound. He pioneered work in chemistry, exobiology, virology and atmospheric physics and as one of the originators of the Gaia hypothesis – which holds that our living planet can be viewed as a single biological system – he became a venerated figure in the environment movement.