List of Christian thinkers in science

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clerks studying astronomy and geometry.
France, early 15th century.

This list concerns the issue of the relationship between religion and science, but is specific to Christian history. This is only supplementary to the issue as lists are by themselves not equipped to answer questions on this topic. The list in non-exhaustive and strictly limited to scientists who also contributed to Christian theology or religious thinking. The purpose is to act as a guide: the names, annotations, and or links are to provide use for further study on this topic.

1 Color code
2 Edict of Milan to the Edict of Nantes
3 Ratio Studiorum to French Revolution
4 Napoleonic Wars to the modern era
5 Living
6 See also
7 External links related to the topic

[edit] Color code

Key:	Roman Catholic Church	Eastern Christianity	Anglicanism	Protestant	Other or Unspecified

[edit] Edict of Milan to the Edict of Nantes

In 313 the Edict of Milan ended Christian persecution in the Roman Empire. Although this is not the start of Christianity it may well be the start of Christians recorded achievements in many pursuits, including science.

The Edict of Nantes (1598) was an important event in allowing religious toleration among Christians. Hence this increased the ability of different kind of Christians to work in science among other things.

Name	Reason for inclusion	Sources
John Philoponus (c.490–c.570)	His criticism of Aristotelian physics was important to Medieval science. He also theorized about the nature of light and the stars. He was also called John of Alexandria, hence the picture. As a theologian he rejected the Council of Chalcedon so was a figure in the Monophysitism minority of Eastern Christianity.	Cornell University [1] and Stanford University [2]
Bede, the Venerable (c.672–735)	Catholic monk who wrote two works on "Time and its Reckoning." This primarily concerned how to date Easter, but contained a new recognition of the "progress wave-like" nature of tides. He was an influence early medieval knowledge of the natural world.	David Edward Cartwright (1999). Tides: A Scientific History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-5216-2145-3.
Pope Silvester II (c.950–1003)	A scientist and book collector, he influenced the teaching of math and astronomy in church-run schools, and raised the cathedral school at Rheims to the height of prosperity. A liberal as Gerbert of Rheims, when made Pope he disowned his Gallican antecedents and supported the claims of the papacy.	Truman University and History of the Christian Church and an article by William Wallace [3]
Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054)	He wrote on geometry, mathematics, and the astrolabe. He was also a monk who composed Marian antiphons and was essentially beatified.	McTutor
Robert Grosseteste (c.1175–1253)	Bishop of Lincoln, he was the central character of the English intellectual movement in the first half of the 13th century and is considered the founder of scientific thought in Oxford. He had a great interest in the natural world and wrote texts on the mathematical sciences of optics, astronomy and geometry. He affirmed that experiments should be used in order to verify a theory, testing its consequences.	A. C. Crombie, Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100-1700, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971)
Pope John XXI (1215–1277)	He wrote the widely used medical text Thesaurus pauperum before becoming Pope. When he took office as pope in 1277, he immediately cracked down on heterodoxy including Averroes works and teachings on Aristotle.	Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone (2005). The Friar and the Cipher. Doubleday. ISBN 0-7679-1472-4. & Richard Hofstadter (1996). Academic Freedom in the Age of the College. Transaction books. ISBN 1-5600-0860-1.
Albertus Magnus (c.1193–1280)	Patron saint of scientists in Catholicism who may have been the first to isolate arsenic. He wrote that: "Natural science does not consist in ratifying what others have said, but in seeking the causes of phenomena." Yet he rejected elements of Aristotelianism that conflicted with Catholicism and drew on his faith as well as Neo-Platonist ideas to "balance" "troubling" Aristotelian elements. In 1252 he helped appoint Thomas Aquinas to a Dominican theological chair in Paris to lead the suppression of these dangerous ideas.	Helen S. Lang (1992). Aristotle's Physics and Its Medieval Varieties. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-1083-8. and Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone (2005). The Friar and the Cipher. Doubleday. ISBN 0-7679-1472-4.
Roger Bacon (c.1214–1294)	He was an English philosopher who emphasized empiricism and has been presented as one of the earliest advocates of the modern scientific method. He joined the Franciscan Order around 1240, where he was influenced by Grosseteste. Bacon was responsible for making the concept of "laws of nature" widespread, and contributed in such areas as mechanics, geography and, most of all, optics. It is said that he was imprisoned by the church for many years because of his scientific teachings, although this is disputed.	Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone (2005). The Friar and the Cipher. Doubleday. ISBN 0-7679-1472-4. and Lindberg, D.C. (1995). "Medieval Science and Its Religious Context". Osiris 10: 60–79. doi:10.1086/368743.
Theodoric of Freiberg (c.1250–c.1310)	Dominican who is believed to have given the first correct explanation for the rainbow in De iride et radialibus impressionibus or On the Rainbow. In theology he disagreed with Thomas Aquinas on metaphysical positions and tended more towards Neoplatonism than him.	Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy
Thomas Bradwardine (c.1290–1349)	He was an English archbishop, often called "the Profound Doctor". He developed studies as one of the Oxford Calculators of Merton College, Oxford University. These studies would lead to important developments in mechanics.	Catholic Encyclopedia
Jean Buridan (1300–1358)	He was a Catholic priest and one of the most influential philosophers of the later Middle Ages. He developed the theory of impetus, which was an important step toward the modern concept of inertia.	Essay "Scientific Revolutions as Changes of Worldview" by Thomas Samuel Kuhn in Can Theories be Refuted?: Essays on the Duhem-Quine Thesis edited by Sandra G. Harding. (D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1976)[4]
Nicole Oresme (c.1323–1382)	Theologian and bishop of Lisieux, he was one of the early founders and popularizers of modern sciences. One of his many scientific contributions is the discovery of the curvature of light through atmospheric refraction.	(2005) Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 0-4159-6930-1.
Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464)	Catholic cardinal and theologian who made contributions to the field of mathematics by developing the concepts of the infinitesimal and of relative motion. His philosophical speculations also anticipated Copernicus’ heliocentric world-view.	McTutor
Otto Brunfels (1488–1534)	A theologian and botanist from Mainz, Germany. His Catalogi virorum illustrium is considered to be the first book on the history of evangelical Church. In botany his Herbarum vivae icones helped earn him acclaim as one of the "fathers of botany"	Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888 - 1889, Jahn, I. Geschichte der Biologie. Spektrum 2000, and Mägdefrau, K. Geschichte der Botanik. Fischer 1992
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)	Catholic canon who introduced a heliocentric world view. In 1620, his work was forbidden by his church "until corrected". The church demanded, in "about a quarto page of fine print" that nine sentences, by which heliocentrism was represented as certain, had to be either omitted or changed. This done, the book was still specifically banned in each edition of the index of prohibited books, with an expanded entry in the 1819 index, and not removed from the list until the final edition, in 1828.	Catholic Encyclopedia[5], Joseph Mendham (1840). An Index of Prohibited Books: By Command of the Present Pope, Gregory XVI in 1835; .... Duncan and Malcolm.
Michael Servetus (1511-1553)	Nontrinitarian who was condemned and imprisoned by Catholics before being burned at the stake in Protestant-ran Geneva. In science wrote on astronomy and his theological work "Christianismi Restitutio" contained the first European description of the function of pulmonary circulation.	Salon review of a biography of Servetus, History of Science article
William Turner (c.1508–1568)	He is sometimes called the "father of English botany" and was also an ornithologist. Religiously he was arrested for preaching in favor of the Reformation. He later became a Dean of Wells Cathedral, pictured, but was expelled for nonconformity.	Galileo Project
Ignazio Danti (1536–1586)	He was a bishop of Alatri who convoked a diocesan synod to deal with abuses. He was also a mathematician who wrote on Euclid, an astronomer, and a designer of mechanical devices.	McTutor
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600)	He was an Italian philosopher, priest, cosmologist, and occultist, known for espousing the idea the that Earth revolves around the Sun and that many other worlds revolve around other suns. For his many heretical views he was tried by the Roman Inquisition and burned at the stake. The Catholic Encyclopedia labels his system of beliefs "an incoherent materialistic pantheism."	Catholic Encyclopedia and The Pope and the Heretic by Michael White.
Bartholomaeus Pitiscus (1561–1613)	He may have introduced the word trigonometry into English and French. He was also a Calvinist theologian who acted as court preacher at the town then called Breslau, hence the image of their town square.	McTutor
John Napier (1550–1617)	Scottish mathematician known for inventing logarithms, Napier's bones, and being the popularizer of the use of decimals. He also was a staunch Protestant who wrote on the Book of Revelation.	McTutor
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)	His model of the cosmos based on nesting Platonic solids was explicitly driven by religious ideas; his later and most famous scientific contribution, the Kepler's laws of planetary motion, was based on empirical data that he obtained from Tycho Brahe's meticulous astronomical observations, which Kepler stole after Tycho died of mercury poisoning. There is circumstantial evidence that Kepler himself poisoned Tycho. He had wanted to be a theologian at one time and his Harmonice Mundi discusses Christ at points.	Galileo Project and Adherents.com and Joshua Gilder and Anne-Lee Gilder (2005). Heavenly Intrigue: Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and the Murder Behind One of History's Greatest Scientific Discoveries. Anchor. 978-1-4000-3176-4 (1-4000-3176-1) ISBN.
Laurentius Gothus (1565–1646)	A professor of astronomy and Archbishop of Uppsala. He wrote on astronomy and theology.	Uppsala University

[edit] Ratio Studiorum to French Revolution

The Ratio Studiorum was crucial in the establishment of Jesuit education in 1599. Jesuits played an important role in science dealt with in List of Jesuit scientists. Further Jesuit education and science was an influence outside the Catholic world as well through scholarly communication.

This section goes on to the French Revolution which led to the first major de-Christianization attempts in Europe to occur in many centuries. This culminated in the Cult of the Supreme Being. The period thus saw Christianity in transition and eventually conflict.

Name	Reason for inclusion	Sources
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)	Scientist who had many problems with the Inquisition for defending heliocentrism in the convoluted period brought about by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. In regard to Scripture, he took Augustine's position: not to take every passage too literally, particularly when the scripture in question is a book of poetry and songs, not a book of instructions or history.	Catholic Encyclopedia[6]
Marin Mersenne (1588–1648)	For four years he devoted himself to theology writing Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim (1623) and L'Impieté des déistes (1624). These were theological essays against atheism and deism. He is more remembered for the work he did corresponding with mathematicians and concerning Mersenne primes.	MacTutor archive
René Descartes (1596–1650)	Descartes was one of the key thinkers of the Scientific Revolution in the Western World. He is also honoured by having the Cartesian coordinate system used in plane geometry and algebra named after him. He did important work on invariants and geometry. His Meditations on First Philosophy partially concerns theology and he was devoted to reconciling his ideas with the dogmas of Catholic Faith to which he was loyal. This attempt was, and is, considered unsuccessful by the Roman Catholic Church so his philosophy is still considered erroneous in it.	McTutor
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)	Jansenist thinker; well-known for Pascal's law (physics), Pascal's theorem (math), and Pascal's Wager (theology).	McTutor
Isaac Barrow (1630-1677)	English divine, scientist, and mathematician. He wrote Expositions of the Creed, The Lord's Prayer, Decalogue, and Sacraments and Lectiones Opticae et Geometricae.	A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature and MacTutor
Nicolas Steno (1638-1686)	Lutheran convert to Catholicism, his Beatification in that faith occurred in 1987. As a scientist he is considered a pioneer in both anatomy and geology, but largely abandoned science after his religious conversion.	Australian E-Journal of Theology and Paleontologia Electronica
Seth Ward (1617–1689)	Anglican Bishop of Salisbury and Savilian Chair of Astronomy from 1649-1661. He wrote Ismaelis Bullialdi astro-nomiae philolaicae fundamenta inquisitio brevis and Astronomia geometrica. He also had a theological/philosophical dispute with Thomas Hobbes and as a bishop was severe toward nonconformists.	Galileo Project and University of Hanover's philosophy seminar
Robert Boyle (1627–1691)	Scientist and theologian who argued that the study of science could improve glorification of God.	ASA and Stanford University [7]
John Wallis (1616-1703)	As a mathematician he wrote Arithmetica Infinitorumis, introduced the term Continued fraction, worked on cryptography, helped develop calculus, and is further known for the Wallis product. He also devised a system for teaching the non-speaking deaf. He was also a Calvinist inclined chaplain who was active in theological debate.	Galileo Project and University of Hanover's philosophy seminar
John Ray (1627–1705)	An English botanist who wrote The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation. (1691) The John Ray Initiative of Environment and Christianity is also named for him.	University of California, Berkeley [8]
Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)	A polymath who worked on determinants, a calculating machine, He was a Lutheran who worked with convert to Catholicism John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in hopes of a reunification between Catholicism and Lutheranism. He also wrote Vindication of the Justice of God.	McTutor
Isaac Newton (1643–1727)	He is regarded as one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians in history. His scientific fame notwithstanding, Newton's study of the Bible and of the early Church Fathers were among his greatest passions, though he consistently refused to swear his allegiance to the church. He wrote Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (Nontrinitarianism).	Gutenberg.org copy of that book
Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746)	Briefly a Divinity student, had a Christian institute named for him.	The Maclaurin Institute
Firmin Abauzit (1679–1767)	A physicist and theologian. He translated the New Testament into French and corrected an error in Newton's Principia. His birthplace of Uzès is pictured.	Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772)	His writing is the basis of Swedenborgianism and several of his theological works contained some science hypotheses.	Swedenborgian site
Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778)	He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy" and also made contributions to ecology. Natural theology and the Bible were important to his Systema Naturae and Systema Vegetabilium.	Berkeley bio
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799)	A mathematician appointed to a position by Pope Benedict XIV. After her father died she devoted her life to religious studies, charity, and ultimately became a nun.	Britannica.com
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804)	Nontrinitarianism clergyman who wrote the controversial work History of the Corruptions of Christianity. He is credited with discovering oxygen, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele did so a year earlier.	Starr King school for the ministry
Olinthus Gregory (1774–1841)	He wrote Lessons Astronomical and Philosophical in 1793 and became mathematical master at the Royal Military Academy in 1802. An abridgment of his 1815 Letters on the Evidences of Christianity was done by the Religious Tract Society.	Preface to "Evidences" and 1911 Encyclopedia

[edit] Napoleonic Wars to the modern era

The Napoleonic wars increased secularism in the rest of Europe. This also reached the US in time and a 1914 study indicated belief in a personal God was a minority position among members of the National Academy of Sciences.[9] As that implies this period led Christians in science to face changes and increased challenges. The first major one being theories of evolution discussed early on by Lamarck in Philosophie Zoologique and culminating in The Origin of Species. Then in the twentieth century new areas of physics, like the Big Bang or Quantum mechanics arose. Christians in science in this period dealt with new discoveries in a variety of ways ranging from total rejection to a measured support.

Name	Reason for inclusion	Sources
William Buckland (1784-1856)	Anglican priest/geologist who wrote Vindiciae Geologiae; or the Connexion of Geology with Religion explained. He was born in 1784, but his scientific life did not begin before the period discussed herein.	University of Oxford site.[10]
Augustin Louis Cauchy (1789–1857)	A mathematician who defended the Society of Jesus, tried to convert other mathematicians to Catholicism, and was a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.	Catholic Encyclopedia and Istanbul Technical University
Lars Levi Læstadius (1800-1861)	A botanist who started a revival movement within Lutheranism called Laestadianism. This movement is among the strictest forms of Lutheranism. As a botanist he has the author citation Laest and discovered four species.	University of Texas article
Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864)	Geologist, paleontologist, and Congregationalist pastor. He worked on Natural theology and wrote on fossilized tracks.	1911 encyclopedia and Amherst College [11]
William Whewell (1794–1866)	A professor of mineralogy and moral philosophy. He wrote An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics in 1819 and Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology in 1833.	Stanford philosophy site and Middlesex University article
Michael Faraday (1791–1867)	A Glasite church elder for a time, he discussed the relationship of science to religion in a lecture opposing Spiritualism.	BBC [12] andAdherents.com
Charles Babbage (1791–1871)	The Difference Engine and the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise.	Victorian Web and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University [13]
Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873)	Anglican priest and geologist whose, A Discourse on the Studies of the University discusses the relationship of God and man. In science he won both the Copley Medal and the Wollaston Medal.	Scientists of Faith and University of California, Santa Barbara
John Bachman (1790-1874)	He wrote numerous scientific articles and named several species of animals. He also was a founder of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and wrote works on Lutheranism.	The College of Charleston and Newberry College
Robert Main (1808–1878)	Anglican priest who won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1858. (The image is of Asaph Hall's 1879 Gold Medal of the RAS.) Robert Main also preached at the British Association of Bristol	Royal Society's obituaries, pages 227-235
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)	Although Clerk as a boy was taken to Presbyterian services by his father and to Anglican services by his aunt, while still a young student at Cambridge he underwent an Evangelical conversion. In the biography by Cambell (p.170) Maxwell's conversion is described: "He referred to it long afterwards as having given him a new perception of the Love of God. One of his strongest convictions thenceforward was that 'Love abideth, though Knowledge vanish away.'" Maxwell's evangelicalism "committed him to an anti-positivist position." ^[1]	James Clerk Maxwell and religion, American Journal of Physics, 54 (4), April 1986, p.312-317 ; James Clerk Maxwell and the Christian Proposition by Ian Hutchinson
Gregor Mendel (1822–1884)	Augustinian Abbot who was the "father of modern genetics" for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants.	Catholic Encyclopedia.[14]
Philip Henry Gosse (1810–1888)	Marine biologist who wrote Aquarium (1854), and A Manual of Marine Zoology (1855-56). He is more famous, or infamous, as a Christian Fundamentalist who coined the idea of Omphalos (theology).	University of Houston hosted article.[15]
Asa Gray (1810-1888)	His Gray's Manual remains a pivotal work in botany. His Darwiniana has sections titled "Natural selection not inconsistent with Natural theology", "Evolution and theology", and "Evolutionary teleology." The preface indicates his adherence to the Nicene Creed in concerning these religious issues.	Gutenberg text of Darwiniana and ASA
Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825—1888)	An Italian mathematician most linked to Turin. He is known for Faà di Bruno's formula and being a spiritual writer beatified in 1988.	McTutor
George Jackson Mivart (1827 - 1900)	A fellow of the Zoological Society of London who did notable work on Insectivora and became involved in controversies with Charles Darwin. He was also a convert Catholicism who taught at the Catholic University of Leuven, their library is pictured, and received a Doctor of Philosophy from Pope Pius IX in 1876, However his later works were considered unorthodox and led to his excommunication by Cardinal Vaughan.	* "St. George Jackson Mivart, Ph.D., M.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., F.Z.S.". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. Also the end of the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Hell mentions him.[16]
Armand David (1826–1900)	A Catholic missionary to China and member of the Lazarists who considered his religious duties to be his principle concern. He was also a botanist with the author abbreviation David and as a zoologist he described several species new to the West.	The Vicentians
George Stokes (1819–1903)	A minister's son, he wrote a book on Natural Theology. He was also one of the Presidents of the Royal Society and made contributions to Fluid dynamics.	Gifford Lectures site.[17][18]
George Salmon (1819 - 1904)	He won the Copley Medal for his mathematical works. In theology his book An Historical Introduction to the Study of the Books of the New Testament was widely read and he wrote rebuttals to John Henry Newman tracts.	George Salmon: from mathematics to theology
Henry Baker Tristram (1822-1906)	A founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union. His publications included The Natural History of the Bible (1867) and The Fauna and Flora of Palestine (1884).	University of Durham
Lord Kelvin (1824–1907)	He gave a famous address to the Christian Evidence Society. In science he won the Copley Medal, the Royal Medal, and was important in Thermodynamics.	Institute of Physics [19] and his own article.
Pierre Duhem (1861–1916)	He worked on Thermodynamic potentials and wrote histories advocating that the Roman Catholic Church helped advance science.	McTutor and Scientist and Catholic: Pierre Duhem by Stanley Jaki [20]
Georg Cantor (1845–1918)	Lutheran who wrote on religious topics and had an interest in Medieval theology.	IUPUI [21]
Dmitri Egorov (1869–1931)	Russian mathematician who made significant contributions to the broader areas of differential geometry. He was an Imiaslavie who defended religion during the Soviet era. In 1930 the Soviets arrested and imprisoned him as a "religious sectarian." He died of a hunger strike in protest.	McTutor
Pavel Florensky (1882-1937)	Russian Orthodox saint who wrote a book on Dielectrics and wrote of imaginary numbers having a relationship to the Kingdom of God.	Second paragraph of Page 26 in a paper from Middlesex University Middlesex University article
Max Planck (1858-1947)	He won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics and is considered the founder of Quantum mechanics. He had been raised an observant Lutheran and was an elder in his church from 1920 to his death. In 1937 he delievered the lecture "Religion and Science." That stated he did not necessarily believe in a "personal God" and said of faith in miracles that "its total defeat is undoubtedly a matter of time."	Adherents,com and The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science pgs 66, 67, 183-187
Robert Millikan (1868–1953)	The second son of Reverend Silas Franklin Millikan, he wrote about the reconciliation of science and religion in books like Evolution in Science and Religion. He won the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physics.	Nobel Biography
E. T. Whittaker (1873-1956)	Converted to Catholicism in 1930 and member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. His 1946 Donnellan Lecture was entitled on Space and Spirit. Theories of the Universe and the Arguments for the Existence of God. He also received the Copley Medal and had written on Mathematical physics before conversion.	McTutor
Arthur Compton (1892–1962)	He won a Nobel Prize in Physics. He also was a deacon in the Baptist Church and wrote an article in Christianity Takes a Stand that supported the controversial idea of the United States maintaining the peace through a nuclear-armed air force.	American Physical Society [22] and Time (magazine)[23]
Georges Lemaître (1894-1966)	Roman Catholic priest who first proposed the Big Bang theory.	Catholic Education Resource Center
David Lack (1910-1973)	Director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology and convert who wrote Evolutionary Theory and Christian Belief in 1957. As he is in part known for his study of the genus Euplectes a Black-winged Red Bishop is pictured.	Western Kentucky University and ASA's book reviews section
Charles Coulson (1910-1974)	Methodist who wrote Science and Christian Belief in 1955. In 1970 he won the Davy Medal.	McTutor
Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975)	Russian Orthodox geneticist who criticized young Earth creationism in an essay, "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution," and argued that science and faith did not conflict.	[24][25]
Michael Polanyi (1891–1976)	He was born Jewish, but became a Tolstoyan and was also married in a Roman Catholic Church. In 1946 he wrote Science, Faith, and Society ISBN 0-226-67290-5	Polyaniana
Kurt Gödel (1906-1978)	He is best known for Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Other work includes the physics-involved Gödel metric. At an early age he is said to have taken religion more seriously than his family and in later life described himself as a "Baptist Lutheran (but not member of any religious congregation)." In theology he is noted for Gödel's ontological proof.	Hao Wang and Collected Works By Kurt Gödel, Solomon Feferman, Association for Symbolic Logic, page 3
Henry Eyring (1901-1981)	American chemist known for developing the Eyring equation. Also a Latter-Day Saint whose interactions with LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith on science and faith are a part of LDS history.	National Academy of Sciences [26] and Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring by Henry J. Eyring
Aldert van der Ziel (1910-1991)	He researched Flicker noise and has the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers named an award for him. The IEEE corporate office is pictured. He also was a conservative Lutheran who wrote The Natural Sciences and the Christian Message.	University of Maryland and ASA
Carlos Chagas Filho (1910-2000)	A neuroscientist from Rio de Janeiro who headed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for 16 years. He studied the Shroud of Turin and his "the Origin of the Universe", "the Origin of Life", and "the Origin of Man" involved an understanding between Catholicism and Science.	Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Sir Robert Boyd (1922-2004)	A pioneer in British space science who was Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He lectured on faith being a founder of the "Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship" and an important member of its predecessor Christians in Science. He was connected to the University College London which is shown here in an old drawing.	Obituary and CiS
Arthur Peacocke (1924-2006)	Anglican priest and biochemist, his ideas may have influenced Anglican and Lutheran views of evolution. Winner of the 2001 Templeton Prize. He was a Dean at Clare College, Cambridge, which is pictured.	Society of Ordained Scientists' website[27]
C. F. von Weizsäcker (1912-2007)	German nuclear physicist who is the co-discoverer of the Bethe-Weizsäcker formula. His The Relevance of Science: Creation and Cosmogony concerned Christian and moral impacts of science. He headed the Max Planck Society from 1970 to 1980. After that he retired to be a Christian pacifist.	ASA

[edit] Living

As suggested this section concerns significant Christian thinkers in science who are alive today. Those who lead organizations of Christians in science or who write works concerning how Christians of today respond to science. Interest in this has increased in recent decades due to continued controversies and recognition from awards like the Templeton Prize.

Name	Reason for inclusion	Sources
Charles Hard Townes (born 1915)	In 1964 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics and in 1966 he wrote The Convergence of Science and Religion.	University of California, Berkeley [28] and Templeton Prize's site.[29]
Ian Barbour (born 1923)	A physicist who wrote Christianity and the Scientists in 1960, and When Science Meets Religion ISBN 0-06-060381-X in 2000. For years he taught at Carleton College, hence their chapel is pictured.	Templeton Prize site.[30]
Stanley Jaki (born 1924)	Benedictine who won a Templeton Prize and advocates the idea modern science could only have arisen in a Christian society.	Seton Hall University site.[31]
Allan Sandage (born 1926)	An astronomer of Jewish ancestry who converted to Christianity late in life. He wrote the article A Scientist Reflects on Religious Belief and made discoveries concerning the Cigar Galaxy which is pictured.	The religion essay, astronomy article and Bruce Medalist page,
John Polkinghorne (born 1930)	Anglican priest who wrote Science and the Trinity (2004) ISBN 0-300-10445-6. Winner of the 2002 Templeton Prize.	His own website.[32]
Owen Gingerich (born 1930)	Mennonite astronomer who went to Goshen College and Harvard. An old picture of Goshen is shown. Mr. Gingerich has written about people of faith in science history.	Space.com[33] and Cambridge Christians in Science.[34]
R. J. Berry (born 1934)	He is a former president of both the Linnean Society of London and the Christians in Science group. He also wrote God and the Biologist: Personal Exploration of Science and Faith (Apollos 1996) ISBN 0-85111-446-6 As he taught at University College London for over 20 years its main building is pictured.	iv press and Christians in Science
Gerhard Ertl (born 1936)	Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Director and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin, Germany. In an interview with the German magazine Cicero, he stated that he believes in god, reads frequently in the bible and tries to live as a Christian.	Glauben Sie an Gott? Interview with the German magazine Cicero.
Michał Heller (born 1936)	He is a Catholic priest, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion.' He also is a mathematical physicist who has written articles on relativistic physics and Noncommutative geometry. His cross-disciplinary book Creative Tension: Essays on Science and Religion came out in 2003. For this work he won a Templeton Prize. He teaches at Kraków, hence the picture of a Basilica from the city.	Templeton Foundation, Journal of Mathematical Physics, and ISSR
Ghillean Prance (born 1937)	A noted botanist involved in the Eden Project, which is pictured. He is also the current President of Christians in Science.	CiS interview
Donald Knuth (born 1938)	(Lutheran) The Art of Computer Programming and 3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated (1991), ISBN 0-89579-252-4	His website.[35]
Peter Grünberg (born 1939)	2007 Nobel Laureate in Physics	Glauben Sie an Gott? Interview with the German magazine Cicero.
Eric Priest (born 1943)	An authority on Solar Magnetohydrodynamics who won the George Ellery Hale Prize among others. He has spoken on Christianity and Science at the University of St Andrews and is a member of the Faraday Institute. An image from St. Andrews is shown. He is also interested in prayer, meditation, and Christian psychology.	Faraday Institute and Eric Priest's website
Henry F. Schaefer, III (born 1944)	He wrote Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence? ISBN 0-9742975-0-X and is a signatory of A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism. He was awarded the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry in 1979.	University of Georgia Athens
Robert T. Bakker (born 1945)	Paleontologist who was a figure in the "dinosaur Renaissance" and known for the theory some dinosaurs were Warm-blooded. He is also a Pentecostal preacher who advocates theistic evolution and has written on religion.	Interview with him at Prehistoric planet and a Spiritual site linked to him
Joan Roughgarden (born 1946)	Transsexual scientist who wrote Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist and has done Bible study. The image is from Stanford University where she teaches.	New York Times and Stanford alumni magazine
Kenneth R. Miller (born 1948)	A biology professor at Brown University who wrote Finding Darwin's God ISBN 0-06-093049-7, The picture is of Brown's Science Library.	St. Petersburg Times [36]
Francis Collins (born 1950)	He is the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute. He has also written on religious matters in articles and in Faith and the Human Genome he states the importance to him of "the literal and historical Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which is the cornerstone of what I believe." He wrote the book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.	ASA and Genome.gov
Simon C. Morris (born 1951)	A British paleontologist who made his reputation through study of the Burgess Shale fossils, one of which is pictured. He was the co-winner of a Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal and also won a Lyell Medal. He is active in the Faraday Institute for study of science and religion and is also noted on discussions concerning the idea of theistic evolution.	Gifford Lectures, Boyle Lecture, Boston University.
John T. Houghton (born ????)	He is the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and won a gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society. He's also former Vice President of Christians in Science.	Christians in Science
Christopher Isham (born ????)	Theoretical physicist who developed HPO formalism. He teaches at Imperial College London, part of which is pictured to the side. In addition to being a physicist, he is a philosopher and theologian.	Stephen Hawkins, the Big Bang, and God, by H. F. Schaefer