Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the entire solar system and has made important contributions to the understanding of a number of processes including mantle convection, the formation of planets and the origins of granite and basalt.

The term geochemistry was first used by the Swiss-German chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838. In his paper, Schönbein predicted the birth of a new field of study, stating:

"In a word, a comparative geochemistry ought to be launched, before geochemistry can become geology, and before the mystery of the genesis of our planets and their inorganic matter may be revealed."

The field began to be realised a short time after Schönbein's work, but his term - 'geochemistry' - was initially used neither by geologists nor chemists and there was much debate over which of the two sciences should be the dominant partner. There was little collaboration between geologists and chemists and the field of geochemistry remained small and unrecognised. During the early 20th Century, a number of geochemists produced work that began to popularise the field, including Frank Wigglesworth Clarke who had begun to investigate the abundances of various elements within the Earth and how the quantities were related to atomic weight. The composition of meteorites and their differences to terrestrial rocks was being investigated as early as 1850 and in 1901, Oliver C. Farrington hypothesised although there were differences, that the relative abundances should still be the same. This was the beginnings of the field of cosmochemistry and has contributed much of what we know about the formation of the Earth and our Solar System.

William Andrews McDonough is an American architect, founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) with German chemist Michael Braungart as well as co-author of 'Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things also with Braungart. McDonough's career is focused on designing environmentally sustainable buildings and transforming industrial manufacturing processes.

McDonough was born in Tokyo, the son of an American Seagram's executive, and trained at Dartmouth College and Yale University. In 1981 McDonough founded his architectural practice, and his first major commission was the 1984 Environmental Defense Fund Headquarters. The EDF's requirement of good indoor air quality in the structure exposed McDonough to the need for sustainable development.

McDonough's practice is located in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a small office in San Francisco, California and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. McDonough moved his practice from New York City to Charlottesville in 1994, when he was appointed as the Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. He relinquished this position in 1999 to focus on expanding his professional practice.^{[citation needed]}