Lovelock's work at NASA philosophizing about the possible chemical processes which might go on on other planets led to his considering life+atmosphere as a comb

Lovelock's work at NASA philosophizing about the possible chemical processes which might go on on other planets led to his considering life+atmosphere as a combined system, which directly drove a lot of scientific investigation of the effect of human activity on the atmosphere and the atmosphere's effect on life, and therefore to much of our current understanding about global warming. This kind of research is not isolated, it helps us understand planetary dynamics and find other examples of planet-scale atmospheric systems which help us learn more about our own.