PART TWO
Famous Christian Scientists
(From http://whychristianity.com)
Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
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 has led to so much in our lifestyles today which depend on
them (including computers and telephone lines and so Web sites). Faraday was a devoutly Christian member of
the Sandemanians, which significantly influenced upon him and strongly affected the way in which he
approached and interpreted nature. The Sandemanians originated from Presbyterians who had rejected the idea of
state churches, and tried to go back to a New Testament type of Christianity.
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 the formation of the X-Club, dedicated to lessening religious influences and propagating an image of
"conflict" between science and religion. One sympathizer was Darwin's cousin 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 whilst, 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.
Kelvin (William Thompson) (1824-1907)
Kelvin was foremost among the small group of British scientists who helped to lay the foundations of modern
physics. His work covered may 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
who recognized the value of his work. He was a very committed Christian, 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 Encyclopaedia 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 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).
Max Planck (1858-1947)
Planck made many contributions to physics, but is best known for quantum theory, which has 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
scepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition" with the goal "toward God!"
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 never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe.
The Encyclopaedia 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."