Famous scientists who were Christian

[Staceyshoe]

I'm looking for a list of famous scientists throughout history who were Christian. Surely there is a list like this somewhere. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Crafty Mathy Mom]

I haven't looked at the rest of the site, but here is one list.

 

http://www.adherents.com/people/100_scientists.html

[ChandlerMom]

Generally, throughout western history the vast majority of scientists were christian, even when their discoveries were at odds with the church's views of the time.

[Spy Car]

Giordano Bruno was a Dominican friar.

 

Bill

[Daisy]

Here are two books. I have the second one. It is creation-based for those wanting to know the slant. It doesn't give a lot of in depth information. We used it more as a list that would give us a place to start researching.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Scientists-Faith-Biographies-Historic-Christian/dp/082542724X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321133489&sr=8-2

 

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Science-God-Scientists-Believed/dp/0890510806/ref=pd_sim_b_1

[regentrude]

Giordano Bruno was a Dominican friar.

 

And it did not help him one little bit....the Church had him burned at the stake

[Spy Car]

And it did not help him one little bit....the Church had him burned at the stake

 

Well, there was that :D

 

Bill

[....]

Gregor Mendel, father of Mendelian genetics.

 

Sir Isaac Newton.

 

Off the top of my head...Galileo (even tho the church opposed his research findings). ?

[ElizaG]

From Wikipedia:

 

List of Christian Thinkers in Science

 

There are links to additional lists at the end of the page.

 

These lists are all obviously selective. One more person I wanted to mention is Jerome Lejeune, a devout Catholic physician and geneticist who discovered the chromosomal cause of Down syndrome. He was also the first to recommend folic acid to help prevent neural tube defects.

[Jay3fer]

Hmm... I think you have to be careful about this approach to science since non-Christians have contributed so much to its history. It may be worthwhile to point out to your kids that somebody shared your belief system (though there are so many definitions of Christian - if you're Baptist, would you consider a Catholic monk to have had the "same" faith?) or approached his/her work in a God-centred way, but to focus too much on those who are exactly like us leads to politically-correct science texts that highlight the contributions of African-American or minority individuals over the more scientifically SIGNIFICANT contributions in the history of science. (though there's tons of overlap, of course!)

 

Just a thought...feel free to ignore it. :-)

[ElizaG]

I can't speak for the OP, but for our family, lists like these are helpful because they challenge the stereotype that traditional Christianity is "against science." As Catholics, we run into this very often in homeschool materials. Sometimes they'll say it outright; other times, they'll just present a biased view by talking about a few controversial situations (e.g. Galileo) and ignoring many centuries of scientific research by Church-sponsored universities, religious orders, and laypeople.

 

This isn't about dredging up some contributions of obscure people who weren't "scientifically SIGNIFICANT." Quite the opposite. It's about recognizing that many people who are widely regarded as playing important roles in the history of science -- Fleming, Boyle, Kelvin, Planck, Leibniz, Linnaeus, Euler, Pascal, Copernicus, Roger Bacon, Grosseteste, etc. -- were also practicing Christians, and did not see this as a conflict.

 

Judaism, at least in its more modern forms, doesn't have to deal with the same stereotype. I think everyone is aware that there are a lot of notable Jewish scientists. :) So I guess it wouldn't be as helpful in that case.

[kalanamak]

Generally, throughout western history the vast majority of scientists were christian, even when their discoveries were at odds with the church's views of the time.

 

 

:iagree:

[laughing lioness]

Beautiful Feet's History of Science has a great reading list and does a nice job talking about the faith of scientists through history.

Many break-through scientists were either at odds with the church or the science community. Recent 2011 nobel prize winner Dan Shectman, was fired 30 years ago (from a U.S. fed lab) for the work that won him the Nobel this year (he is currently working in Israel). He discovered quasicrystals, btw).

[....]

I can't speak for the OP, but for our family, lists like these are helpful because they challenge the stereotype that traditional Christianity is "against science." As Catholics, we run into this very often in homeschool materials. Sometimes they'll say it outright; other times, they'll just present a biased view by talking about a few controversial situations (e.g. Galileo) and ignoring many centuries of scientific research by Church-sponsored universities, religious orders, and laypeople.

 

This isn't about dredging up some contributions of obscure people who weren't "scientifically SIGNIFICANT." Quite the opposite. It's about recognizing that many people who are widely regarded as playing important roles in the history of science -- Fleming, Boyle, Kelvin, Planck, Leibniz, Linnaeus, Euler, Pascal, Copernicus, Roger Bacon, Grosseteste, etc. -- were also practicing Christians, and did not see this as a conflict.

 

Judaism, at least in its more modern forms, doesn't have to deal with the same stereotype. I think everyone is aware that there are a lot of notable Jewish scientists. :) So I guess it wouldn't be as helpful in that case.

 

:iagree: And there is an atmosphere now in the scientific community that being religious and being a scientist are incompatible. There was a documentary a few years ago about scientists who have been ostracized because of their belief in intelligent design.

[Staceyshoe]

It's about recognizing that many people who are widely regarded as playing important roles in the history of science -- Fleming, Boyle, Kelvin, Planck, Leibniz, Linnaeus, Euler, Pascal, Copernicus, Roger Bacon, Grosseteste, etc. -- were also practicing Christians, and did not see this as a conflict.

 

:iagree: Exactly!

 

We do plan to study major scientists of a variety of faith backgrounds, but I specifically want to make sure we read some biographies of scientists who were Christian so that ds knows that, as Starrbuck12 said, maintaining our faith and pursuing science are not incompatible.

[HoneyFernDotOrg]

Darwin, ironically, was a Christian.

[ElizaG]

Darwin, ironically, was a Christian.

From what I've read, a case could be made either way. If he did remain a Christian through adulthood, he seems to have been a pretty heterodox one. (Same goes for Newton.)

 

This is not to make any judgments... just that it's not as clear as in the case of many others.

[laughing lioness]

:iagree: And there is an atmosphere now in the scientific community that being religious and being a scientist are incompatible.

 

There was a documentary a few years ago about scientists who have been ostracized because of their belief in intelligent design.

 

Which is what I love about Reasons to Belive. The vision of the ministry is to show that science proves the veracity of scripture and vice versa. The scientists that work with Reasons are top scholars- (astronomer David Block, for one).

 

I think you mean the Stien movie, "Expelled." Lots of controversary about the movie, too. (just search these boards)

 

I'm not sure that I would say Darwin was a Christian throughout his life. I took a small class of bio students to see a reinactment of Darwin by an area scientist (Ph.D.). His take was that the theory of natural selection explained his dd's utimely death in a way that his theology couldn't.

Edited November 14, 2011 by laughing lioness

[Staceyshoe]

Which is what I love about Reasons to Belive. The vision of the ministry is to show that science proves the veracity of scripture and vice versa. The scientists that work with Reasons are top scholars- (astronomer David Block, for one).

 

Thank you so much for mentioning this resource! I have never heard of it before but love what I am seeing!:)

[laughing lioness]

Thank you so much for mentioning this resource! I have never heard of it before but love what I am seeing!:)

 

ymvw. I used to work for them :001_smile:. Hugh Ross is one of the most brilliant men I've ever met.

[serendipitous journey]

His take was that the theory of natural selection explained his dd's utimely death in a way that his theology couldn't.

... natural selection, and the concepts of variation in populations, certainly did explain more about his family's health problems than Christianity did: he and his wife were cousins. The meaning of their suffering, on the other hand, can't be touched by natural selection and is left to theology. Or maybe philosophy for some.

 

: I know the OP was for famous and historical scientists, but here's my favorite modern Christian scientist (an intelligent design fellow; he lectures quite openly on his Christianity and I can't think of anybody who's ostracized him, his science is insightful and impeccable and everyone -- esp. his colleagues, generally atheist -- agrees that he is a very fine person): Bill Newsome. That's the page for his lab; this article might be more interesting for this topic, though it's brief.

[Jay3fer]

Judaism, at least in its more modern forms, doesn't have to deal with the same stereotype. I think everyone is aware that there are a lot of notable Jewish scientists. :)

 

Actually... as a religious Jew, I have found NO scientific role models for my kids - identifiably observant Jews who have made significant contributions to the history of science. Einstein, for instance (or Richard Feynman, or any of his cronies), was a proud Jew, but not a practicing one.

 

There's more going on today (can't speak for the recent bunch of Nobel winners), but historically, Jews were barred from universities and other important spheres of European and North American life. Look at Mendelssohn... he wouldn't have gone so far if he'd stuck with his original faith. :-(

 

(That's why there are Jewish hospitals everywhere you go, btw - not because Jews need different medicine. :001_smile: In most cities, hospitals had bars and quotas blocking Jewish medical graduates from completing their residency requirements.) :-o