1.
SMART SCIENTIFIC PEOPLE BELIEVE TOO
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)
Copernicus was the Polish astronomer who put
forward the first mathematically based system of
planets going around the sun. He attended various
European universities, and became a Canon in the
Catholic church in 1497. His new system was
actually first presented in the Vatican gardens
in 1533 before Pope Clement VII who approved, and
urged Copernicus to publish it around this time.
Copernicus was never under any threat of
religious persecution - and was urged to publish
both by Catholic Bishop Guise, Cardinal
Schonberg, and the Protestant Professor George
Rheticus. Copernicus referred sometimes to God in
his works, and did not see his system as in conflict with the Bible.
2. Sir Fancis Bacon (1561-1627)
Bacon was a philosopher who is known for
establishing the scientific method of inquiry
based on experimentation and inductive reasoning.
In De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium, Bacon
established his goals as being the discovery of
truth, service to his country, and service to the
church. Although his work was based upon
experimentation and reasoning, he rejected
atheism as being the result of insufficient depth
of philosophy, stating, "It is true, that a
little philosophy inclineth mans mind to
atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's
minds about to religion; for while the mind of
man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may
sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but
when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate,
and linked together, it must needs fly to
Providence and Deity."
(<http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/ofatheism.php>Of Atheism)
3. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Kepler was a brilliant mathematician and
astronomer. He did early work on light, and
established the laws of planetary motion about
the sun. He also came close to reaching the
Newtonian concept of universal gravity - well
before Newton was born! His introduction of the
idea of force in astronomy changed it radically
in a modern direction. Kepler was an extremely
sincere and pious Lutheran, whose works on
astronomy contain writings about how space and
the heavenly bodies represent the Trinity. Kepler
suffered no persecution for his open avowal of
the sun-centered system, and, indeed, was allowed
as a Protestant to stay in Catholic Graz as a
Professor (1595-1600) when other Protestants had been expelled!
4. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Galileo is often remembered for his conflict with
the Roman Catholic Church. His controversial work
on the solar system was published in 1633. It had
no proofs of a sun-centered system (Galileo's
telescope discoveries did not indicate a moving
earth) and his one "proof" based upon the tides
was invalid. It ignored the correct elliptical
orbits of planets published twenty five years
earlier by Kepler. Since his work finished by
putting the Pope's favorite argument in the mouth
of the simpleton in the dialogue, the Pope (an
old friend of Galileo's) was very offended. After
the "trial" and being forbidden to teach the
sun-centered system, Galileo did his most useful
theoretical work, which was on dynamics. Galileo
expressly said that the Bible cannot err, and saw
his system as an alternate interpretation of the biblical texts.
5. Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist
and philosopher who has been called the father of
modern philosophy. His school studies made him
dissatisfied with previous philosophy: He had a
deep religious faith as a Roman Catholic, which
he retained to his dying day, along with a
resolute, passionate desire to discover the
truth. At the age of 24 he had a dream, and felt
the vocational call to seek to bring knowledge
together in one system of thought. His system
began by asking what could be known if all else
were doubted - suggesting the famous "I think
therefore I am". Actually, it is often forgotten
that the next step for Descartes was to establish
the near certainty of the existence of God - for
only if God both exists and would not want us to
be deceived by our experiences - can we trust our
senses and logical thought processes. God is,
therefore, central to his whole philosophy. What
he really wanted to see was that his philosophy
be adopted as standard Roman Catholic teaching.
Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon (1561-1626) are
generally regarded as the key figures in the
development of scientific methodology. Both had
systems in which God was important, and both seem
more devout than the average for their era.
6. Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
In optics, mechanics, and mathematics, Newton was
a figure of undisputed genius and innovation. In
all his science (including chemistry) he saw
mathematics and numbers as central. What is less
well known is that he was devoutly religious and
saw numbers as involved in understanding God's
plan for history from the Bible. He did a
considerable work on biblical numerology, and,
though aspects of his beliefs were not orthodox,
he thought theology was very important. In his
system of physics, God is essential to the nature
and absoluteness of space. In Principia he
stated, "The most beautiful system of the sun,
planets, and comets, could only proceed from the
counsel and dominion on an intelligent and powerful Being."
7. Robert Boyle (1791-1867)
One of the founders and key early members of the
Royal Society, Boyle gave his name to "Boyle's
Law" for gases, and also wrote an important work
on chemistry. Encyclopedia Britannica says of
him: "By his will he endowed a series of Boyle
lectures, or sermons, which still continue, 'for
proving the Christian religion against notorious
infidels...' As a devout Protestant, Boyle took a
special interest in promoting the Christian
religion abroad, giving money to translate and
publish the New Testament into Irish and Turkish.
In 1690 he developed his theological views in The
Christian Virtuoso, which he wrote to show that
the study of nature was a central religious
duty." Boyle wrote against atheists in his day
(the notion that atheism is a modern invention is
a myth), and was clearly much more devoutly
Christian than the average in his era.
8. Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith who
became one of the greatest scientists of the 19th
century. His work on electricity and magnetism
not only revolutionized physics, but led to much
of our lifestyles today, which depends on them
(including computers and telephone lines and, so,
web sites). Faraday was a devoutly Christian
member of the Sandemanians, which significantly
influenced him and strongly affected the way in
which he approached and interpreted nature.
Originating from Presbyterians, the Sandemanians
rejected the idea of state churches, and tried to
go back to a New Testament type of Christianity.
9. Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Mendel was the first to lay the mathematical
foundations of genetics, in what came to be
called "Mendelianism". He began his research in
1856 (three years before Darwin published his
Origin of Species) in the garden of the Monastery
in which he was a monk. Mendel was elected Abbot
of his Monastery in 1868. His work remained
comparatively unknown until the turn of the
century, when a new generation of botanists began
finding similar results and "rediscovered" him
(though their ideas were not identical to his).
An interesting point is that the 1860's was
notable for formation of the X-Club, which was
dedicated to lessening religious influences and
propagating an image of "conflict" between
science and religion. One sympathizer was
Darwin's cousin
<http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/implications.php>Francis
Galton, whose scientific interest was in genetics
(a proponent of eugenics - selective breeding
among humans to "improve" the stock). He was
writing how the "priestly mind" was not conducive
to science while, at around the same time, an
Austrian monk was making the breakthrough in
genetics. The rediscovery of the work of Mendel
came too late to affect Galton's contribution.
10. William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907)
Kelvin was foremost among the small group of
British scientists who helped to lay the
foundations of modern physics. His work covered
many areas of physics, and he was said to have
more letters after his name than anyone else in
the Commonwealth, since he received numerous
honorary degrees from European Universities,
which recognized the value of his work. He was a
very committed Christian, who was certainly more
religious than the average for his era.
Interestingly, his fellow physicists George
Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) and James Clerk
Maxwell (1831-1879) were also men of deep
Christian commitment, in an era when many were
nominal, apathetic, or anti-Christian. The
Encyclopedia Britannica says "Maxwell is regarded
by most modern physicists as the scientist of the
19th century who had the greatest influence on
20th century physics; he is ranked with Sir Isaac
Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental
nature of his contributions." Lord Kelvin was an
<http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/day-age.php>Old
Earth creationist, who estimated the Earth's age
to be somewhere between 20 million and 100
million years, with an upper limit at 500 million
years based on cooling rates (a low estimate due
to his lack of knowledge about radiogenic heating).
11. Max Planck (1858-1947)
Planck made many contributions to physics, but is
best known for quantum theory, which
revolutionized our understanding of the atomic
and sub-atomic worlds. In his 1937 lecture
"Religion and Naturwissenschaft," Planck
expressed the view that God is everywhere
present, and held that "the holiness of the
unintelligible Godhead is conveyed by the
holiness of symbols." Atheists, he thought,
attach too much importance to what are merely
symbols. Planck was a churchwarden from 1920
until his death, and believed in an almighty,
all-knowing, beneficent God (though not
necessarily a personal one). Both science and
religion wage a "tireless battle against
skepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and
superstition" with the goal "toward God!"
12. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Einstein is probably the best known and most
highly revered scientist of the twentieth
century, and is associated with major revolutions
in our thinking about time, gravity, and the
conversion of matter to energy (E=mc2). Although
<http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/einstein.php>never
coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized
the impossibility of a non-created universe. The
Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly
denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in
"Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony
of what exists." This actually motivated his
interest in science, as he once remarked to a
young physicist: "I want to know how God created
this world, I am not interested in this or that
phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that
element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest
are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the
"uncertainty principle" was "God does not play
dice" - and to him this was a real statement
about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying
of his was "Science without religion is lame,
religion without science is blind."
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<www.MurGallery.htm>www.MurGallery.com
