Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (IPA: /pjɛʀ tejaʀ də ʃaʀdɛ̃/; May 1, 1881 – April 10, 1955), a Jesuit priest trained as a palaeontologist and a philosopher, was present at the discovery of Peking Man. Teilhard de Chardin popularized such ideas as the Omega Point and the Noosphere.

In setting forth this sweeping account of the unfolding of the material cosmos, he abandoned the literal interpretation of the two different accounts of creation in the Book of Genesis, in favor of a metaphorical interpretation.