Post by fasgnadhThe Greatness of God is something we cannot understand even
though we are aware of it
- Rene Descarte 1596-1650 mathematician and philosopher
René Descartes one of the key thinkers of the Scientific
Revolution in the Western World. 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.
I see everywhere the inevitable expression of the
infinite in the world
- Louis Pasteur 1822-95
As a blind man has no idea of colours, so have we no
idea of the manner by which the All-Wise God
perceives and understands all things.
- Sir Isaac Newton 1642-1727
The scientific picture of the real world around me is very
deficient...Science cannot tell us why music delights us,
of why and how an old song can move us to
tears.... Science is reticent too when it is a question of
the great Unity... of which we all somehow form a part, to
which we belong. The most popular name for it in our time is God.
- Erwin Schroedinger 1933 Nobel prize in Physics
"My view of the World" 1918
There can never be any real opposition between religion
and science. Every serious and reflective
person realizes, I think, that the religious elements
in his nature must be recognized and cultivated if all
the powers of the human soul are to act together in
perfect balance and harmony.
- Max Planck winner of the 1918 Nobel prize in Physics
"Where is Science Going" 1918
"Something unknown is doing we don't know what"
-Sir Arthur Eddington
Religion and science are the two wings upon which man's
intelligence can soar into the heights,
with which the human soul can progress. It is not possible
to fly with one wing alone! Should a man try to fly with the
wing of religion alone he would quickly fall into the quagmire of
superstition, whilst on the other hand, with the wing of
science alone he would make no progress,
but fall into the despairing slough of materialism.
- 'Abdu'l - Baha "Paris Talks" 1911
Fred Hoyle (British astrophysicist): "A common sense
interpretation of the facts suggests that a
superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with
chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth
speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts
seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost
beyond question." (2)
George Ellis (British astrophysicist): "Amazing fine tuning
occurs in the laws that make this [complexity] possible.
Realization of the complexity of what is accomplished makes
it very difficult not to use the word 'miraculous'
without taking a stand as to the ontological
status of the word." (3)
"I find it quite improbable that such order
came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing
principle. God to me is a mystery but is the explanation
for the miracle of existence, why there is something
instead of nothing." (6)
John O'Keefe (astronomer at NASA): "We are, by astronomical
standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group
of creatures.. .. If the Universe had not been made with
the most exacting precision we could never have come
into existence. It is my view that these circumstances
indicate the universe was created for man to live in." (7)
George Greenstein (astronomer): "As we survey all the
evidence, the thought insistently arises that some
supernatural agency - or, rather, Agency - must be involved.
Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have
stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme
Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially
crafted the cosmos for our benefit?" (8)
Arthur Eddington (astrophysicist): "The idea of a universal
mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference
from the present state of scientific theory." (9)
Arno Penzias (Nobel prize in physics): "Astronomy leads
us to a unique event, a universe which was
created out of nothing, one with the very delicate balance
needed to provide exactly the conditions required to
permit life, and one which has an underlying (one might say
'supernatural') plan." (10)
Roger Penrose (mathematician and author): "I would say the universe
has a purpose. It's not there just somehow by chance." (11)
Tony Rothman (physicist): "When confronted with the order
and beauty of the universe and the strange
coincidences of nature, it's very tempting to take the leap
of faith from science into religion. I am sure many physicists
want to. I only wish they would admit it." (12)
Vera Kistiakowsky (MIT physicist): "The exquisite order
displayed by our scientific understanding of
the physical world calls for the divine." (13)
Robert Jastrow (self-proclaimed agnostic): "For the
scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of
reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled
the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the
highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he
is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for
centuries." (14)
Stephen Hawking (British astrophysicist): "Then we shall…
be able to take part in the discussion of the
question of why it is that we and the universe exist.
If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph
of human reason - for then we would know the mind of
God." (15)
Frank Tipler (Professor of Mathematical Physics): "When I
began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was
a convinced atheist. I never in my wildest dreams imagined
that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show
that the central claims of Judeo- Christian theology are
in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions
of the laws of physics as we now understand
them. I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable
logic of my own special branch of physics." (16) Note: Tipler since
has actually converted to Christianity, hence his latest book, The
Physics Of Christianity.
Alexander Polyakov (Soviet mathematician): "We know that nature is
described by the best of all possible mathematics because God
created it."(17)
Ed Harrison (cosmologist): "Here is the cosmological proof of the
existence of God – the design argument of Paley – updated and
refurbished. The fine tuning of the universe provides prima facie
evidence of deistic design. Take your choice: blind chance that
requires multitudes of universes or design that requires only
one....Many scientists, when they admit their views,
incline toward the teleological or design argument." (18)
Edward Milne (British cosmologist): "As to the cause of the
Universe, in context of expansion,
that is left for the reader to insert, but
our picture is incomplete without Him [God]." (19)
Barry Parker (cosmologist): "Who created these laws? There is no
question but that a God will always be needed." (20)
Drs. Zehavi, and Dekel (cosmologists): "This type of universe,
however, seems to require a degree of fine tuning of the initial
conditions that is in apparent conflict with 'common wisdom'." (21)
Arthur L. Schawlow (Professor of Physics at Stanford
University, 1981 Nobel Prize in physics): "It seems
to me that when confronted with the marvels of life and
the universe, one must ask why and not just how. The only possible
answers are religious. . . . I find a need for God
in the universe and in my own life." (22)
Henry "Fritz" Schaefer (Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and
director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the
University of Georgia): "The significance and joy in my science
comes in those occasional moments of discovering
something new and saying to myself, 'So that's how God did it.'
My goal is to understand a little
corner of God's plan." (23)
Wernher von Braun (Pioneer rocket engineer) "I find it as
difficult to understand a scientist who does
not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality
behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend
a theologian who would deny the advances of science." (24)
Carl Woese (microbiologist from the University of Illinois)
"Life in Universe - rare or unique?
I walk both sides of that street. One day I can say that
given the 100 billion stars in our galaxy and the 100
billion or more galaxies, there have to be some planets
that formed and evolved in ways very,
very like the Earth has, and so would contain microbial
life at least. There are other days when I say that the
anthropic principal, which makes this universe a special one out
of an uncountably large number of universes, may not apply only to
that aspect of nature we define in the realm of physics, but may
extend to chemistry and biology. In that case life on Earth could
be entirely unique." (25)
"The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe.
We are like a little child entering a huge library.
The walls are covered to the ceilings with books
in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must
have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does
not understand the languages in which they are written. But the
child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books - a
mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly
suspects." - Albert Einstein
"The statistical probability that organic structures and the most
precisely harmonized reactions that typify living organisms
would be generated by accident, is zero."
- Ilya Prigogine (Chemist-Physicist)
Recipient of two Nobel Prizes in chemistry
I. Prigogine, N. Gregair, A. Babbyabtz, Physics Today 25,
pp. 23-28
"The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is
balanced on a knife-edge, but that the
entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be
total chaos if any of the natural 'constants' were off even
slightly. You see," Davies adds, "even if you dismiss man as a
chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems
unreasonably suited to the existence of life -- almost contrived
you might say a 'put-up job'."- Dr. Paul Davies
(noted author and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Adelaide
University)
Just a few believers who exceeded the intellectual output of this
ignorant atheist fuckwit and his cronies in alt.atheism;
Sir Francis Bacon - established the scientific method of
inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning.
Nicolaus Copernicus Catholic canon who introduced a
heliocentric world view.
William Turner the "father of English botany"
John Napier Scottish mathematician known for inventing
logarithms, Napier's bones, and being the popularizer
of the use of decimals.
Johannes Kepler 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,
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who
has endowed us with senses, reason and
intellect has intended us to forego their use
and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can obtain by
them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical
matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct
experience or necessary demonstrations.
- Galileo Galilei 1615.
..science can only be created by those who are thoroughly
imbued with the aspiration toward truth
and understanding. This source of feeling, however,
springs from the sphere of Religion... science without religion
is lame, religion without science is blind.
- Albert Einstein "Ideas and Opinions" 1954
The glory and greatness of the Almighty God are
marvellously discerned in all His works and divinely
read in the open book of heaven
- Galileo Galilei 1564-1642
Blaise Pascal well-known for Pascal's law (physics),
Pascal's theorem (math), and Pascal's Wager (theology).
Nicolas Steno a pioneer in both anatomy and geology
Robert Boyle Scientist and theologian who argued that
the study of science could improve glorification of God.
John Wallis 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.
Gottfried Leibniz A polymath who worked on determinants,
a calculating machine
Isaac Newton (He is regarded as one of the greatest
scientists and mathematicians in history.
Thomas Bayes Bayes' theorem. Fellow of the Royal Society
Firmin Abauzit A physicist and theologian.
Carolus Linnaeus father of modern taxonomy, contributions to ecology.
Leonhard Euler mathematician and physicist,
Maria Gaetana Agnesi mathematician
Isaac Milner Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
Michael Faraday
Charles Babbage
Gregor Mendel "father of modern genetics"
Asa Gray - Gray's Manual remains a pivotal work in botany.
Louis Pasteur Inventor of the pasteurization method, a
french chemist and microbiologist. He also solved the
mysteries of rabies, anthrax, chicken cholera, and
silkworm diseases, and contributed to the development
of the first vaccines.
Lord Kelvin Thermodynamics. winner of the Copley
Medal and the Royal Medal,
Pierre Duhem Thermodynamic potentials
Dmitri Egorov mathematician - differential geometry
John Ambrose Flemingthe Right-hand rule and work on
vacuum tubes, Fleming valve. the Hughes Medal.
Max Planck founder of Quantum mechanics (1918 Nobel
Prize in Physics
Edward Arthur Milne astrophysicist and mathematician
proposed the Milne model and had a Moon crater named
for him. Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society,
Arthur Compton Nobel Prize in Physics.
Georges Lemaître proposed the Big Bang theory.
Roman Catholic priest
Sir Robert Boyd pioneer in British space science
von Weizsäcker nuclear physicist Bethe-Weizsäcker formula.
Charles Hard Townes 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics 1966
wrote The Convergence of Science and Religion.
Freeman Dyson the Lorentz Medal, the Max Planck Medal,
and the Lewis Thomas Prize.
John T. Houghtonco-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change gold medal from the Royal Astronomical
Society.
Micha Heller mathematical physicist relativistic
physics and Noncommutative geometry.
Eric PriestSolar Magnetohydrodynamics , won the George
Ellery Hale Prize
Francis Collins director of the US National Human
Genome Research Institute.
John D. Barrow English cosmologist implications of
the Anthropic principle.
Denis Alexander Director of the Faraday Institute and
author of Rebuilding the Matrix - Science and Faith
in the 21st Century.
Christopher IshamTheoretical physicist who developed HPO formalism.
Martin NowakEvolutionary biologist and mathematician best
known for evolutionary dynamics.
And that's just a partial list of Western scientists
who were believers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_scientists
