Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre (1881–1955)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit priest whose philosophical vision of the universe encompassed both Christian and evolutionary ideas. He believed that cosmic evolution proceeded slowly and gradually until it reached a critical point after which further development would take place in the "noosphere," or the sphere of the mind. His book, The Phenomenon of Man, provoked such disapproval in the Church that it was published posthumously.