I.I. Gitelson

Iosef I. Gitelseon (alternative spelling "Josef") is a key figure in the development of biospherics — a branch of ecology studying and creating closed ecosystems, including the development and implementation of "BIOS," an experimental closed ecological life-support system (CELSS), and performance of long-term experiments in it. His work was instrumental in proving the feasibility of stable, essentially closed ecosystems for human beings (noospheric systems), based on continuous cultivation of microorganisms and higher plants. The purpose of such systems is to support human life in space , to improve the habitat under adverse conditions of Earth: in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, under water, underground, in high mountains, deserts as well as in technogenously contaminated environment, including buildings with "sick building syndrome."

Gitelson has been Scientific Advisor of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of RAN, Krasnoyarsk since 1996 and a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Academician).