There is a myth that science and God don’t get on very well. This is far from the case. There are people who like to blame religion for all the trouble in the world and praise science for all the good things. Again, this is a myth. Both science and religion have wonderful strengths and painful shortcomings.
Science gave us the electric chair, Zyklon B, atomic weapons, and pesticides that defoliate the earth. Religion gave us mercy, justice and compassion. Surely, the two need to work together. Science does its best when it makes discoveries in the context of reverence for human dignity and respect for the earth. With this in mind, let’s consider just five of the millions of scientists for whom God was real.
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) had a lonely childhood and always found it difficult to get on with other people. His dedication to work led to an understanding of gravity and a description of the basic forces of nature which are still valid unless you happen to be travelling close to the speed of light. He always believed he was doing God’s work even if he struggled to accept our doctrine of the trinity, which stretches beyond reason. But God, for him, was the guarantor that the universe was built on a rational basis. Shortly before he died, he wrote: ‘I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore . . . while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.’
Gregor Mendel (1822–1884). Our modern understanding of life, including the theory of evolution, would not exist without the work of a Catholic priest, Gregor Mendel, the abbot of an Augustinian community. Between 1856 and 1862, he grew more than 10,000 pea plants in the monastery garden. His contemplative life gave him the time and space to really observe the way they bred. This led to the discovery of genes and the science of heredity. He figured out that genes are inherited from parents and can be dominant or recessive in succeeding generations. His genius was not appreciated until well into the 20th century and was vital for the discovery of DNA.
Celine Fasenmyer (1906-1996) was a sister of Mercy for 75 years. She was also an extraordinary mathematician who, in the 1940s, developed what were known as hypergeometric polynominals, now sometimes called Sister Celine's polynomials. Her work was instrumental in creating a form of mathematics which could be used by computers and hence in the development of that remarkable thing that controls so much of our lives, the computer algorithm. One of her former college students recalled: ‘The biggest asset that Sr Celine left behind is her love and kindness to all people . . . she wrote . . . remember the only thing that matters in this life is how much you give from yourself to others.’
Bede Lowery (1924-1996) was an Australian Jesuit priest and internationally renowned entomologist (expert on ants). His expeditions throughout Asia and all over Australia led to him identifying literally hundreds of new species. An entire genus is now called Loweriella in his honour. He was especially interested in bulldog and jumper ants, which many of us would be happy to leave to him. Fr Bede was one of numerous members of religious orders, both male and female, whose hobbies became a ministry and who loved the overwhelming diversity of creation. He looked at the world through the eyes of faith.
Donna Strickland (b 1959) came from Canada and won the Nobel prize for Physics in 2019. Few women have achieved that distinction. Her groundbreaking work involved an exploration of the way in which light helps to compose physical reality. This is a shallow summary, of course, but Strickland asks probing questions about the composition of the universe and the nature of reality. Alongside this, she is a lifelong member of her Christian congregation. She told a journalist, Alanna Mitchell, that her research going back to the Big Bang never answered the question why? ‘It’s a question science cannot answer. Not even quantum field theory. You know, every so often you sit there and you think, now, why are people hurtling around on this Earth going around the sun, which is still just a speck in the whole blessed universe? We are so insignificant to this whole thing and yet we keep thinking how important we all are.’