God and Science

Faulty Dilemma: God or Science

A faulty dilemma is a logical fallacy where only two options are considered in an either or way, when in fact there are more options available. The atheist notoriously presents his argument against religion by stating that it is either Science or God not both. The fact is God and Science are compatible and so God or science becomes a faulty dilemma.

The foundations of modern science were laid by Christian Scientists. Men like Sir Isaac Newton, Nikolas Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Lord Kelvin, Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle and many others were firm believers in God and the Bible.

“Faraday found no conflict between his religious beliefs and his activities as a scientist and philosopher. He viewed his discoveries of nature’s laws as part of the continual process of “reading the book of nature”, no different in principle from the process of reading the Bible to discover God’s laws. A strong sense of the unity of God and nature pervaded Faraday’s life and work.”  -Jim Baggot, in “The myth of Michael Faraday: Michael Faraday was not just one of Britain’s greatest experimenters. A closer look at the man and his work reveals that he was also a clever theoretician” in New Scientist No. 1787 (21 September 1991)

These men firmly believed in a God who created the physical laws and they believed they were discovering these laws. So science was seen as a spiritual exercise where men discovered the laws which God had created. No scientist neither pre-modern nor modern ever claimed that the laws of nature evolved over time. The space time continuum came into existence at the big bang and the laws of nature were already guiding the process. Science does not explain the origin of these laws. It discovers it, explains it and applies it to everyday life.

It is only God who can adequately explain the laws of nature. It’s origins, functions and it’s effects seem to have purpose and they produce effects which are consistent with something purposefully designed. As humans we design laws to govern the society. Similarly, God designed the physical laws to govern the universe and also the moral law to govern humans. Christianity does not contradict science. It was the work of Christian Scientist which has helped the establishment and development of the scientific enterprise. Science is consistent with Christianity and derives the very reason for it’s presence from the creator God of the Bible.

The main reasons for the atheist rant that science is incompatible with Christianity are

1. Ignorance

2. Faulty reasoning

3. Naturalistic Bias

4. Fear of accountability

1. Ignorance: Many Atheists are ignorant of the proofs both scientific and philosophical which point towards the existence of God.

It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.

~ Francis Bacon

“Atheism is the result of ignorance and pride; of strong sense and feeble reasons; of good eating and ill-living. It is the plague of society, the corrupter of manners, and the underminer of property.”

-Jeremy Collier

The fact that it was Christian scientists who founded modern science and modern universities prove that science far from being anti-God is and consequence of the quest for truth, which the bible advocates to be pursued for the glory of God. This was covered-up by the secular educational establishments. This sort social conditioning by withholding specific information to favor a particular worldview is one of the main reasons for ignorance of the right relationship between science and Christianity.

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being…..All variety of created objects which represent order and life in the universe could happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, whom I call the Lord God.” – Sir Isaac Newton, Principia (1687)

“God in the beginning formed matter” – Sir Isaac Newton, Optics (1704)

“Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors.” – Sir Isaac Newton, A short Scheme of True Religion.

“If you gain, you gain all. If you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hesitation, that He exists.” — Blaise Pascal

“Faraday found no conflict between his religious beliefs and his activities as a scientist and philosopher. He viewed his discoveries of nature’s laws as part of the continual process of “reading the book of nature”, no different in principle from the process of reading the Bible to discover God’s laws. A strong sense of the unity of God and nature pervaded Faraday’s life and work.”

Jim Baggot, in “The myth of Michael Faraday: Michael Faraday was not just one of Britain’s greatest experimenters. A closer look at the man and his work reveals that he was also a clever theoretician” in New Scientist No. 1787 (21 September 1991)

I shall be with Christ, and that is enough. – Michael Faraday

Last words, answering the question “Have you ever pondered by yourself what will be your occupation in the next world?”, as quoted in The Speaker’s QuoteBook (1997) edited by Roy B. Zuck, p. 108

“If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea voyages, battles!”

— Blaise Pascal

2. Faulty reasoning: Scientific facts like any other facts are subject to interpretation, which in turn is based on world view. The right interpretation of scientific data requires right reasoning. Logical fallacies like faulty dilemma, circular reasoning, Ad hominem and ad populum arguments should be avoided if one has to reach the truth. The skeptic’s and the Christian are interpreting the same data but make exactly opposite conclusions. One of them is wrong and in this book we will see why the skeptic’s interpretation is filled with logical fallacies and wrong deductions.

3. Naturalistic Bias: Many skeptics in spite of posing as unbiased messiahs trying to deliver the world from grips of religion and superstition have strong naturalistic bias which prevents them from accepting even the possibility of God.

“I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”  (“The Last Word” by Thomas Nagel, Oxford University Press: 1997)”

4. Fear of accountablity

“God exist whether or not men may choose to believe in Him. The reason why many people do not believe in God is not so much that it is intellectually impossible to believe in God, but because belief in God forces that thoughtful person to face the fact that he is accountable to such a God.”- Robert A. Laidlaw

The atheist, most of them if not all have an unhealthy distaste for accountability and judgment. His love for his sin and resentment of accountability is so much that denial of God is the only thing that keeps him out of discomfort. More than any other reason, this reality of accountability and judgment forces many to deny the existence of God, in the face of sufficient reason to the contrary.

The faulty dilemma of science vs God is a popular assumption for atheist and secular media. It should be identified and addressed if any inroads are to be made in bringing atheists to Christ.

Science is based on a lot of assumptions which are not proven by science but accepted by faith.

These assumptions which allow for science to operate and be of use to human kind and form the foundations of science and scientific method need a different level of explanation. Other wise it would be circular reasoning like this, " How do you know science is true? Science says so". That is a logical fallacy called circular reasoning or assuming the answer before proving it.

So avoid the error circular reasoning science requires and mandates a different level of explanation, which we call God.

KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

A. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

B. The Universe began to exist. (The video gives SCIENTIFIC evidence for this premise of the argument).

C. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

If you accept A and B, C is undeniable, it follows logically and unavoidably.

"In the Beginning God (first cause) created (caused) the heavens and the earth(the big bang resulting in the universe)." Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" - Genesis 1:1

The Big bang theory proves there was 1. Beginning  2. Universe was not before that and came into existence after that - created. 3. Therefore God exists and created and brought this universe into existence.

The evidence is so strong that many have departed from skepticism and naturalism and shifted to Judeo-christian worldview.

"Astronomers who do not draw theistic or deistic conclusions are rare, and even the few dissenters hint that the tide is against them. Geofry Burbidge of the University of California at San Diego complains, that his fellow astronomers are rushing off to join the 'First Church of Christ of the Big Bang'"

                                                                                             - Hugh Ross, Astrophysicist, CalTech.

25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
    and they will be discarded.

—— Psalm 102: 25, 26

This passage discloses one of the most important law of physics, the second law of thermodynamics and the finitude of a universe which is not eternal but created and had a beginning.

1. In the beginning : The first verse of the bible starts and states the fact that science has confirmed that this universe had a beginning.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1

This verse in Psalms 102 restates the fact of the ‘beginning’ of the universe as a ‘finite’ entity ‘created’ by God.

The Big Bang theory points to a beginning of the universe and the prediction of a background radiation left from the initial big bang which was discovered by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson and which proves the Big Bang theory and consequently a beginning as the first verse of the Bible states.

Penzias and Wilson theorized that if the Big Bang theory was correct, the universe would be filled with background radiation left over from the creation event. [1]

By the mid-20th century, there were two competing theories for the origin of the universe.  The Steady State theory held that matter is continuously created as the universe expands, the overall density of the universe remains the same, and the universe has existed forever. The Big Bang theory stated that the expanding universe must have been denser in the past, and therefore at the very beginning must have been a point of infinite density.[1]

Moreover, the steady state theory which held sway among prominent scientists such as Einstein was displaced by the Big Bang theory. The Steady State theory which held that matter has to be created continuously to maintain the steady state, contradicts the first law of thermodynamics which is the law of conservation of mass and energy. But it was held mainly because of philosophical bias and the entailments of positing a ‘beginning’ which means a finite universe which would have to be created and which consequently leads to a creator God as stated in the first verse of the bible.

“Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly-improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan.” [2]

– Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of the radiation afterglow (Quoted in Walter Bradley, “The ‘Just-so’ Universe: The Fine-Tuning of Constants and Conditions in the Cosmos,” in William Dembski and James Kushiner, eds., Signs of Intelligence. 168)

As Arno Penzias’ words confirm, it is ‘astronomy’, I mean the science of Astronomy, with the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which ‘leads to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing’ and ‘the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan’.  This is science leading to the supernatural to a universe created by God, giving proof to the biblical texts in Genesis 1:1 and Psalm 102:25,26

2. The second law of thermodynamics:

The passage in Psalm 102 : 25, 26  says, “they will perish”, “they will wear out like garment”. It talks about the death of the universe, that matter will wear out. This is called the “heat death” the maximum state of entropy. The ‘wearing out like garment’ is matter undergoing entropy. What happens to the garment, will happen to everything including the universe, because of entropy. This is the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy in the Bible.

So unlike what many think, the revelation in the Bible has been confirmed scientifically and that attests to the truthfulness of the word of God. [3]

Bibliography

1. http://www.space.com/20330-cosmic-microwave-background-explained-infographic.html

2. http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/science-quotes/

3. Barr, Stephen M  “Modern Physics and Ancient Faith”.

ARGUMENT FROM INFORMATION

1. Scientific discoveries are discoveries of information embedded in the universe. Ex: Laws of thermodynamic, Laws of motion etc

2. Information discovered through science is structured and complex involving multiple disciplines.

3. The more a scientist enters into a narrow field, a part of a gene,  to do his doctoral thesis he finds more complex information which only specialist like him can understand. So a lot of information is available but cannot be processed by the common man. Only specialists can deal with that.

4. So much of this information is embedded in the universe like a treasure hunt and the specialists in each field can access it and make a simplified version for the common man.

5. This 'information out there' needs an explanation.

6. Information is best explained by a mind.

7. This mind is called God.

Argument is simple. "Information inside the universe points to a source, which is a mind outside the universe"

This mind is called God.

“From 1953 onward, Willy Fowler and I have always been intrigued by the remarkable relation of the 7.65 Mev energy level in the nucleus of Carbon 12 to the 7.12 Mev level in Oxygen 16. if you wanted to produce carbon and oxygen in roughly equal quantities by stellar nucleosynthesis, these are the two levels you have to fix, and your fixing would have to be just where these levels are actually found to be. Another put-up job? Following the above argument, I am inclined to think so. 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."  

Sir Fred Hoyle (Cambridge astrophysicist ), “The Universe: Past and Present Reflections”

"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics" - Hoyle

As Hoyle notes the commonsense interpretation of facts points to a "superintellect".

"Superintellect" is the scientific name for God.

He continues, "The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion beyond question."

This conclusion of superintellect finetuning the constants and designing the universe for life is "beyond question".

This constitutes a straight forward scientific evidence for God.

The simplest argument for God is arguing from design to designer.

It is intuitive and the burden of proof is on the opponent to prove otherwise.

Complex design can be seen in organic and inorganic molecules.

Structures of crystals and geometric patterns at the molecular level. Organic molecules are carbon containing molecules which make up life. These complex molecules are used to build proteins, connective tissue, fat, bones, brain and different types of cells which make up the different organ systems in different organisms in different environments.

Complex designing in involved at multiple levels  in creating self-replicating, self repairing  cells.

All the information for the replication and repair of cells is found in DNA in higher organisms and RNA in simpler life forms.

As the we saw in the previous video, the fine tuning of the universe  was for the sustaining of  these 'replicating life forms' with 'complex design' at different levels.

High degree of order, which is nothing but the repeatability of laws of nature, principles of physics and chemistry, laws of mathematics without any failure everytime by anybody.

In other words, it is NOT irregular, working out only sometimes. But they are remarkably regular and orderly. This high degree of orderliness helps us to use these principle or laws to discover further scientific truths and applications in specialties based on them.

If nature is disorderly or irregular or chaotic or random, science itself will be impossible as the natural laws and laws of physics, mathematics and chemistry and biology and genetics cannot be trusted to shows us the truth about the natural world.

This high degree of order in nature points towards an ordering mind which is intelligent and powerful to order and maintain this universe.

Analogies:

Just as you can enter a library in any university and safely conclude based on the orderly arrangements of books that a mind has ordered and executed it. So also natural order points towards an ordering intelligence and power whom we call God.

Just as you open a book and can safely conclude that the orderly arrangement of ideas was not by accident or chance but by an intelligent ordering mind, so it is can be safely concluded that natural order points to God, the creator.

‘Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator.’

— Lewis, C.S., Miracles: a preliminary study, Collins, London, p. 110, 1947

Theses things which are found in nature are contingent things, they require something else to come into existence and be arranged and ordered so as to bring about a particular state of affairs. Contingent things are not self-sufficient. Universe as an effect, as a conglomeration of contingent things arranged in a particular order points towards a cause which is non-contingent, and which is the first cause.

Once it is clear that universe had a beginning and that it is made up of contingent things, this then leads to the logical conclusion that it is not self-caused or uncaused but requires a cause which in magnitude of intelligence, goodness and power can create the effect on the size and scale of the universe.

Simply put contingent things are created things. Created things point to a creator.

That is exactly what the Bible claims and therefore is scientifically true in this claim.

"In the Beginning God (first cause) created (caused) the heavens and the earth(the big bang resulting in the universe)." Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" - Genesis 1:1

The Big bang theory proves there was 1. Beginning  2. Universe was not before that and came into existence after that - created. 3. Therefore God exists and created and brought this universe into existence.

The evidence is so strong that many have departed from skepticism and naturalism and shifted to Judeo-christian worldview.

"Astronomers who do not draw theistic or deistic conclusions are rare, and even the few dissenters hint that the tide is against them. Geofry Burbidge of the University of California at San Diego complains, that his fellow astronomers are rushing off to join the 'First Church of Christ of the Big Bang'"

                                                                                             - Hugh Ross, Astrophysicist, CalTech.

I was watching a debate between Dr. Rosenberg and Dr. WL Craig and one of the evidence for the universe coming into existence without a cause given by Dr. Rosenberg is as follows.

1.There are two uranium atoms in the same state and one emits an alpha ray and other does not.

2. Alpha particle coming out of the uranium did not have a cause

3. So things come into existence without a cause

4. Therefore the universe does not have a cause.

My response would be as follows:

1. Our ignorance of the cause of the emission of alpha ray does not mean there is no cause, but just that we still do not know. As science progresses, we will come to know.

2. Even if the alpha-ray was emitted without a cause, it cannot be compared with the whole of the universe coming out of nothing. The whole of the universe with matter, energy, laws of nature, fine-tuned constants, the 10 dimensions of space and time, information including mathematics and laws of logic reasoning, moral law  i.e all of physical and material reality cannot be compared to an alpha ray emission. This is because, we already have a uranium atom from which we get an alpha ray emission. Whereas the universe has to come from nothing. So creation 'ex-nihilo' cannot be compared to emission of alpha ray from uranium atom which is already present in a fine tuned universe.  That is a big leap comparing an apha-ray to the origin of the whole universe. It is incomparable. Therefore this does not disprove that the need for the cause of the whole universe.

3. Since it is illogical to think that universe came without a cause, the burden of proof, is on the atheists to prove that this universe or multiverse, which had a beginning according to BGV theorem, does not indeed have a cause. If they can prove that the universe as a whole, a contingent reality does not need a cause and prove it, then they can hold on to atheism and preach it. The burden of proof is on the atheists to prove that an effect on the scale and complexity of this universe does not need a first cause.

4. This argument is more like the 'Atheism of the gap' argument. I don't know the cause of the emission of alpha ray, therefore the universe does not have a cause.

5. After I posted this post, I saw a video by RTB where a christian Quantum physicist puts the Nuclear decay arguement for atheism to rest. Don't miss it. She nails it.

youtube: https://bit.ly/2Ov4eh2   

Lately Hawking is asking us to choose between the agency of God and mechanism of gravity.

John Lennox responds by stating that it is a category mistake to choose between two different categories, agency and mechanism. The point according to him is  we can choose both, as these are not contradictory. We need both the agency and the law of nature to produce something like an aircraft.

“We need insights of both science and religion in our quest for understanding. Sceince is essentially asking, and answering the question “How?”. By what manner of means do things come about? Religion is essentially asking and answering the question “why?”. Is there a meaning and purpose at work behind what is happening?…..Kettle is boiling because gas is burning (How?). Kettle is boiling because I wish to make a cup of tea.(why?)”

– John Polkinghorne/ Quarks, Chaos and Christianity – Questions to Science and Religion.

So there is an agent explanation describing why a certain agent, the tea maker did it and a mechanism of how tea is prepared for consumption.

Many atheists are ignorant also about the difference between intermediary (mechanisms/human acts) and final cause (God).

They typically sight intermediary causes like doctors, fireman, some mechanism or design in a system(tech) to rule out the final cause who made the intermediary cause in some cases or made it possible for the intermediary causes to produce the tech or mechanism. So this is the basis for pitching doctors against God, saying, “Thank the Doctor, not God”, “If you pray don’t take medicine” etc.

I would say thank both. Doctor is intermediary cause. Medicine is intermediary cause. God is the final cause. Final cause can use intermediary cause or can act directly(miracle). If God had not created the human body with the capacity to heal, no amount of medicine will help.

The ignorance about the distinction between intermediary and final cause is a big error and it blinds them from knowing the truth.

So let us make this point and press this point and help the atheists.

 SIR ISAAC NEWTON

"This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets, and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. And if the fixed Stars are the centers of other like systems, these, being form’d by the like wise counsel, must be all subject to the dominion of One; especially since the light of the fixed Stars is of the same nature with the light of the Sun, and from every system light passes into all the other systems. And lest the systems of the fixed Stars should, by their gravity, fall on each other mutually, he hath placed those Systems at immense distances from one another.

This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all: And on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God Pantokrator,or Universal Ruler." - Sir Isaac Newton, Principia Mathematica

SIR ROBERT BOYLE

In 1662 Boyle was influential in establishing the Royal Society. A majority of the first members were Christians who saw science as a means of understanding God's workings in nature. In his will, he established a series of lectureships for proving the Christian religion against its opponents. The Boyle lectureships became an important forum for Christian apologetics, but the strongest apologetic Robert Boyle gave the world was his humble, upright, and dedicated Christian life.

His Skeptical Chemist was an important work, moving chemistry from the world of alchemy into the realm of science. Boyle believed the orderliness of the universe reflected God's purposeful design. God established the universe according to certain natural laws, so that it worked like a mechanical clock, once the Designer had set it in motion. The scientist's duty was to discover what laws God had established. Robert Boyle himself formulated what became known as "Boyle's Law:" the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to the volume it occupies.   Source: Christianity dot com

MICHAEL FARADAY

In his early career, Faraday assisted Humphrey Davy as a ``research assistant'' (to use perhaps the nearest present-day parallel) in establishing the elementary nature of the recently discovered substance iodine (1813). But his first really important personal discovery was to demonstrate in a beautifully elegant experiment (1821) that the effect of a magnetic field on an electric current is to cause it to move perpendicular to both the current and the magnetic field. 

     He was the first person to liquefy chlorine (1823), he first isolated benzene (1825), and he did important practical research on the alloying of iron (1826). But it is, of course, his researches into electricity for which he is best known. Foremost and first (1831) was his discovery of electromagnetic induction: that varying magnetic fields induce currents to flow in electric circuits that they link. [VG] 

     The close relationship between electricity and chemistry in his researches (and in all the science of his day) is best exemplified by Faraday's law(s) of electrolysis (1833) which state(s) that equal equivalent weights of chemicals are electrolysed by equal quantities of electricity. 

     Of particular interest to me, since I work in plasma physics, it has been said that Faraday was the first plasma physicist. Certainly, his studies of the passage of electricity through ionized gases led him to identify the particular phenomenon of glow discharges now known as Faraday's dark space (1838). 

     Perhaps the discovery that shows most clearly both his complete command of experimental technique and also his persistence (one might say stubornness) in pursuing, over a twenty year period, an effect he felt ``had'' to be present, is his discovery of Faraday rotation (1845). This observation of the rotation of the polarization of light by a magnetic field was a critical demonstration of the link between light and electromagnetism. 

     Finally, in this abbreviated summary of Faraday's scientific achievements, one cannot omit his extremely influential, and initially highly unconventional championing of the signficance of fields. Physics today sees the field of force rather than the material substance as the underlying reality. Faraday's theoretical and philosophical intuition, growing over twenty years or more throughout his experimental researches, and culimnating in his paper ``On the physical character of lines of force'' (1852), was, in the opinion many, his most influential legacy. A young James Clerk Maxwell certainly took him seriously. His mathematicization of Faraday's ideas led directly to what we now call Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. 

     Throughout his long and productive life, Michael Faraday was also a committed Christian. Not a social church-goer - although he spent more hours in a pew than any of us are likely to; not just a conforming member of a ``Christian'' society - although he lived in a society which saw itself as Christian; on the contrary, he belonged to a distinctly nonconformist denomination, which demanded from its members an extremely high level of commitment and devotion: the Sandemanians. Moreover, in addition to his lifelong lay involvement, he acted for significant periods of his career as co-pastor (strictly `Elder') of the London congregation of which he was a member. During those periods he preached (or rather, exhorted) in the services and undertook the spiritual oversight and pastoral care of the people in the congregation. 

     As we shall see, Faraday kept these two dominant aspects of his life - his religious faith and his scientific research - distinct. Actually this separation was mostly one way. He rarely entered into religious discussions with his fellow scientists, but, to judge by his voluminous correspondence, he did enter into lively scientific discussions with his Sandemanian friends. Moreover, despite his scrupulous focus on natural phenomena in his scientific profession, there is ample evidence that Faraday's faith had a strong influence on his own practice of science. We shall see two ways in which this influence is manifest. First, in the philosophical framework which was the context in which he approached the study of nature, and second in the social and ethical principles which he believed should underlie the pursuit of the scientific enterprise.    

                                                            -  Ian Horner Hutchinson, nuclear engineer and physicist who is currently Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO SCIENCE

Discovering God's thoughts and ideas by studying the natural world. Any scientific discovery is a discovery of the thoughts and actions of God who created nature.

Two book approach: Book of  scripture- study the Bible

                                      Book of nature - scientific study of nature - Discovering laws and designs and order and structure inherent in it, which is a creation of God.

Christian scientists for centuries have employed this approach and have had a fruitful Christ centered scientific career or vocation through out their life. They were also excellent Christians and delved into theology and wrote on theological topics. Many Christian scientists today follow the same approach.

A very important part of this approach is the place of Bible. Accordingly, Bible contains scientific facts but it is not a authority in science. So theological interpretations of the natural world should be accommodated with scientific discoveries. This approach has showed how Bible and Science can go together without conflict.

This approach was adopted by Protestant scientists, especially after the infamous Galileo affair with the Catholic church where the grand inquisitor and the Church considered the Bible as the authority on scientific matters. But after this issue, the Catholic church has adopted the 2 book approach and Galileo who followed it was officially vindicated.

This is the best approach for Christians and has been found to be reliable over centuries.

LIST OF CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS DOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES

17TH CENTURY

• Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179): also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess. She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany[3]

• 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 and added greatly to the development of the scientific method.[4]

• 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-Platonic ideas to "balance" "troubling" Aristotelian elements.[note 1][5]

• Jean Buridan (1300–58): French philosopher and priest. One of his most significant contributions to science was the development of the theory of impetus, that explained the movement of projectiles and objects in free-fall. This theory gave way to the dynamics of Galileo Galilei and for Isaac Newton's famous principle of inertia.

• 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.[6]

• 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.[7]

• 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 sects that had broken away from the Catholic Church. In botany his Herbarum vivae icones helped earn him acclaim as one of the "fathers of botany".[8]

• William Turner (c.1508–1568): sometimes called the "father of English botany" and was also an ornithologist. He was arrested for preaching in favor of the Reformation. He later became a Dean of Wells Cathedral, but was expelled for nonconformity.[9]

• Ignazio Danti (1536–1586): As bishop of Alatri he 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.[10]

• Francis Bacon (1561–1626): Considered among the fathers of empiricism and is credited with establishing the inductive method of experimental science via what is called the scientific method today.[11][12]

• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642): Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance.[13][14]

• Laurentius Gothus (1565–1646): A professor of astronomy and Archbishop of Uppsala. He wrote on astronomy and theology.[15]

• Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655): Catholic priest who tried to reconcile Atomism with Christianity. He also published the first work on the Transit of Mercury and corrected the geographical coordinates of the Mediterranean Sea.[16]

• Anton Maria of Rheita (1597–1660): Capuchin astronomer. He dedicated one of his astronomy books to Jesus Christ, a "theo-astronomy" work was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he wondered if beings on other planets were "cursed by original sin like humans are."[17]

• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662): Jansenist thinker;[note 2] well known for Pascal's law (physics), Pascal's theorem (math), and Pascal's Wager (theology).[18]

• 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.[19][20]

• Isaac Barrow (1630–1677): English theologian, scientist, and mathematician. He wrote Expositions of the Creed, The Lord's Prayer, Decalogue, and Sacraments and Lectiones Opticae et Geometricae.[21]

• Juan Lobkowitz (1606–1682): Cistercian monk who did work on Combinatorics and published astronomy tables at age 10. He also did works of theology and sermons.[22]

• 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.[23]

• Robert Boyle (1627–1691): Prominent scientist and theologian who argued that the study of science could improve glorification of God.[24][25] A strong Christian apologist, he is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Chemistry.

• Isaac Newton (1643–1727): Prominent scientist during the Scientific Revolution. Physicist, discoverer of gravity, and an alchemist and an obsessed Christian apologist, was obsessed with trying to discern the date of the Rapture from the Bible.

• Johannes Kepler (1571–1630): Prominent astronomer of the Scientific Revolution, discovered Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

1701–1800 A.D. (18th century)

• John Ray (1627–1705): English botanist who wrote The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation. (1691) The John Ray Initiative[26] of Environment and Christianity is also named for him.[27]

• Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716): He was a philosopher who developed the philosophical theory of the Pre-established harmony; he is also most noted for his optimism, e.g., his conclusion that our Universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible one that God could have created. He also made major contributions to mathematics, physics, and technology. He created the Stepped Reckoner and his Protogaea concerns geology and natural history. 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.[28]

• Stephen Hales (1677–1761): Copley Medal winning scientist significant to the study of plant physiology. As an inventor designed a type of ventilation system, a means to distill sea-water, ways to preserve meat, etc. In religion he was an Anglican curate who worked with the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and for a group working to convert black slaves in the West Indies.[29]

• Firmin Abauzit (1679–1767): physicist and theologian. He translated the New Testament into French and corrected an error in Newton's Principia.[30]

• Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772): He did a great deal of scientific research with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences having commissioned work by him.[31] His religious writing is the basis of Swedenborgianism and several of his theological works contained some science hypotheses, most notably the Nebular hypothesis for the origin of the Solar System.[32]

• Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777): Swiss anatomist, physiologist known as "the father of modern physiology." A Protestant, he was involved in the erection of the Reformed church in Göttingen, and, as a man interested in religious questions, he wrote apologetic letters which were compiled by his daughter under the name .[33]

• Leonhard Euler (1707–1783): significant mathematician and physicist, see List of topics named after Leonhard Euler. The son of a pastor, he wrote Defense of the Divine Revelation against the Objections of the Freethinkers and is also commemorated by the Lutheran Church on their Calendar of Saints on May 24.[34]

• Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) Russian Orthodox Christian who discovered the atmosphere of Venus and formulated the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions.

• Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794): considered the "father of modern chemistry". He is known for his discovery of oxygen's role in combustion, developing chemical nomenclature, developing a preliminary periodic table of elements, and the law of conservation of mass. He was a Catholic and defender of scripture.[35]

• Herman Boerhaave (1668–1789): remarkable Dutch physician and botanist known as the founder of clinical teaching. A collection of his religious thoughts on medicine, translated from Latin into English, has been compiled under the name Boerhaaveìs Orations.[36]

• John Michell (1724–1793): English clergyman who provided pioneering insights in a wide range of scientific fields, including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation.[37][38]

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799): 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.[39]

• Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778): Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, "father of modern taxonomy".

1801–1900 A.D. (19th century)

Further information: List of parson-naturalists

• Joseph Priestley (1733–1804): Nontrinitarian clergyman who wrote the controversial work History of the Corruptions of Christianity. He is credited with discovering oxygen.[note 3]

• Alessandro Volta (1745–1827): Italian physicist who invented the first electric battery. The unit Volt was named after him.[40]

• Samuel Vince (1749–1821): Cambridge astronomer and clergyman. He wrote Observations on the Theory of the Motion and Resistance of Fluids and The credibility of Christianity vindicated, in answer to Mr. Hume's objections. He won the Copley Medal in 1780, before the period dealt with here ended.[41]

• Isaac Milner (1750–1820): Lucasian Professor of Mathematics known for work on an important process to fabricate Nitrous acid. He was also an evangelical Anglican who co-wrote Ecclesiastical History of the Church of Christ with his brother and played a role in the religious awakening of William Wilberforce. He also led to William Frend being expelled from Cambridge for a purported attack by Frend on religion.[42]

• William Kirby (1759–1850): A Parson-naturalist who wrote On the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God. As Manifested in the Creation of Animals and in Their History, Habits and Instincts and was a founding figure in British entomology.[43][44] was an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry. He was Quaker Christian.[45]

• John Dalton (1766–1844):

• Georges Cuvier (1769–1832): French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "father of paleontology".

• Andre Marie Ampere (1775–1836): one of the founders of classical electromagnetism. The unit for electric current, Ampere, is named after him.[46]

• 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.[47]

• John Abercrombie (1780–1844): Scottish physician and Christian philosopher[48] who created the a textbook about neuropathology.

• 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.[49]

• Mary Anning (1799–1847): paleontologist who became known for discoveries of certain fossils in Lyme Regis, Dorset. Anning was devoutly religious, and attended a Congregational, then Anglican church.[50]

• Marshall Hall (1790–1857): notable English physiologist who contributed with anatomical understanding and proposed a number of techniques in medical science. A devout Christian, his religious thoughts were collected in the biographical book Memoirs of Marshall Hall, by his widow[51] (1861). He was also an abolitionist who opposed slavery on religious grounds. He believed slavery to be a sin against God and denial of the Christian faith.[52]

• Lars Levi Læstadius (1800–1861): 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.[53]

• Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864): geologist, paleontologist, and Congregationalist pastor. He worked on Natural theology and wrote on fossilized tracks.[54]

• Benjamin Silliman (1779–1864): chemist and science educator at Yale; the first person to distill petroleum, and a founder of the American Journal of Science, the oldest scientific journal in the United States. An outspoken Christian,[55] he was an old-earth creationist who openly rejected materialism.

• Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866): son of a pastor,[note 4] he entered the University of Göttingen at the age of 19, originally to study philology and theology in order to become a pastor and help with his family's finances. Changed to mathematics upon the suggestion of Gauss.[56] He made lasting contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, and differential geometry, some of them enabling the later development of general relativity.

• William Whewell (1794–1866): 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.[57][58] He is the wordsmith who coined the terms "scientist", "physicist", "anode", "cathode" and many other commonly used scientific words.

• Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Glasite church elder for a time, he discussed the relationship of science to religion in a lecture opposing Spiritualism.[59][60] He is known for his contributions in establishing electromagnetic theory and his work in chemistry such as establishing electrolysis.

• James David Forbes (1809–1868): physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. He was a devout Christian as can be seen in the work "Life and Letters of James David Forbes" (1873).

• Charles Babbage (1791–1871): mathematician and analytical philosopher known as the first computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer. He wrote the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,[61][62] and the Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864) where he raised arguments to rationally defend the belief in miracles.[63]

• 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.[64]

• John Bachman (1790–1874): 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.[65]

• Temple Chevallier (1794–1873): Priest and astronomer who did Of the proofs of the divine power and wisdom derived from the study of astronomy. He also founded the Durham University Observatory, hence the Durham Shield is pictured.[66]

• Robert Main (1808–1878): Anglican priest who won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1858. Robert Main also preached at the British Association of Bristol.[67]

• 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 that he described as having given him a new perception of the Love of God.[note 5] Maxwell's evangelicalism "committed him to an anti-positivist position."[68][69] He is known for his contributions in establishing electromagnetic theory (Maxwell's Equations) and work on the chemical kinetic theory of gases.

• James Bovell (1817–1880): Canadian physician and microscopist who was member of Royal College of Physicians. He was the mentor of William Osler, as well as an Anglican minister and religious author who wrote about natural theology.[70]

• Andrew Pritchard (1804–1882): English naturalist and natural history dealer who made significant improvements to microscopy and wrote the standard work on aquatic micro-organisms. He devoted much energy to the chapel he attended, Newington Green Unitarian Church.

• Gregor Mendel (1822–1884): Augustinian Abbot who was the "father of modern genetics" for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants.[71] He preached sermons at Church, one of which deals with how Easter represents Christ's victory over death.[72]

• Lewis Carroll (1832–1898): [real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], English writer, mathematician, and Anglican deacon. Robbins' and Rumsey's investigation of Dodgson's method, a method of evaluating determinants, led them to the Alternating Sign Matrix conjecture, now a theorem.

• Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894): German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves.

• 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).[73]

• 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.[74]

• Julian Tenison Woods (1832–1889): co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart who won a Clarke Medal shortly before death. A picture from Waverley Cemetery, where he's buried, is shown.[75]

• Louis Pasteur (1822–1895): French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization.

• James Dwight Dana (1813–1895): geologist, mineralogist, and zoologist. He received the Copley Medal, Wollaston Medal, and the Clarke Medal. He also wrote a book titled Science and the Bible and his faith has been described as "both orthodox and intense."[76]

• James Prescott Joule (1818–1889): Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after James Joule.[77]

• John William Dawson (1820–1899): Canadian geologist who was the first President of the Royal Society of Canada and served as President of both the British and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A presbyterian, he spoke against Darwin's theory and came to write The Origin of the World, According to Revelation and Science (1877) where he put together his theological and scientific views.[78]

• Armand David (1826–1900): Catholic missionary to China and member of the Lazarists who considered his religious duties to be his principal concern. He was also a botanist with the author abbreviation David and as a zoologist he described several species new to the West.[79]

• Joseph Lister (1827–1912) was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. He raised as s Quaker, he subsequently left the Quakers, joined the Scottish Episcopal Church.[80]

• Dmitri Mendeleev (1834–1907) was a Russian chemist and Orthodox Christian who formulated the Periodic Law, created the periodic table of elements, and used it to correct the properties of some already discovered elements and also to predict the properties of eight elements yet to be discovered.

1901–2000 A.D. (20th century)

According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.[81] Overall, Christians have won a total of 72.5% of all the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry,[82] 65.3% in Physics,[82] 62% in Medicine,[82] 54% in Economics.[82][82]

• John Hall Gladstone (1827–1902): served as President of the Physical Society between 1874 and 1876 and during 1877–1879 was President of the Chemical Society. He also belonged to the Christian Evidence Society.[83][84]

• George Stokes (1819–1903): 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.[85][86]

• Henry Baker Tristram (1822–1906): 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).[87]

• Enoch Fitch Burr (1818–1907): astronomer and Congregational Church pastor who lectured extensively on the relationship between science and religion. He also wrote Ecce Coelum: or Parish Astronomy in 1867. He once stated that "an undevout astronomer is mad" and held a strong belief in extraterrestrial life.[88][89]

• Lord Kelvin (1824–1907): At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. He gave a famous address to the Christian Evidence Society. In science he won the Copley Medal and the Royal Medal.[90]

• William Dallinger (1839–1909): British minister in the Wesleyan Methodist Church and an accomplished scientist who studied the complete lifecycle of unicellular organisms under the microscope.[91]

• Emil Theodor Kocher (1941-1917): was a Swiss physician and medical researcher who received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid. Kocher was a deeply religious man and also part of the Moravian Church, Kocher attributed all his successes and failures to God.[92]

• J. J. Thomson (1856-1940): Was an English physicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics, credited with the discovery and identification of the electron; and with the discovery of the first subatomic particle. He was a reserved yet devout Anglican.[93][94][95]

• Wilhelm Röntgen (1845–1923) was a German engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901[96]

• Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914) was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is best remembered for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquakes.

• Pierre Duhem (1861–1916): worked on Thermodynamic potentials and wrote histories advocating that the Roman Catholic Church helped advance science.[97][98][99][100][101]

• James Britten (1846–1924): botanist who was heavily involved in the Catholic Truth Society.[102][103]

• Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927): Walcott was a paleontologist, most notable for his discovery of the Burgess Shale of British Columbia. The late Stephen Jay Gould said that Walcott, "discoverer of the Burgess Shale fossils, was a convinced Darwinian and an equally firm Christian, who believed that God had ordained natural selection to construct a history of life according to His plans and purposes."[104]

• Johannes Reinke (1849–1931): German phycologist and naturalist who founded the German Botanical Society. An opposer of Darwinism and the secularization of science, he wrote Kritik der Abstammungslehre (Critique of the theory of evolution), (1920), and Naturwissenschaft, Weltanschauung, Religion, (Science, philosophy, religion), (1923). He was a devout Lutheran.[105]

• Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937): Italian inventor and electrical engineer known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. He shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics.[106][107]

• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955): French Jesuit paleontologist, co-discoverer of the Peking Man, noted for his work on evolutionary theory and Christianity. He postulated the Omega Point as the end-goal of Evolution and he is widely regarded as one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century.

• William Williams Keen (1837–1932): first brain surgeon in the United States, and a prominent surgical pathologist who served as President of the American Medical Association. He also wrote I believe in God and in evolution.[108]

• Francis Patrick Garvan (1875–1937): Priestley Medalist who received a "Mendel Medal" from Villanova University, was mentioned by Catholic Action as a "prominent Catholic layman", and was involved with the Catholic University of America.[109][110]

• Pavel Florensky (1882–1937): Russian Orthodox priest who wrote a book on Dielectrics and wrote of imaginary numbers having a relationship to the Kingdom of God.[111]

• Eberhard Dennert (1861–1942): German naturalist and botanist who founded the Kepler Union, a group of German intellectuals who strongly opposed Haeckel's Monist League and Darwin's theory.[112] A Lutheran, he wrote Vom Sterbelager des Darwinismus, which had an authorized English translation under the name At The Deathbed of Darwinism (1904).

• George Washington Carver (1864–1943): American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. Carver believed he could have faith both in God and science and integrated them into his life. He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science.[113]

• Arthur Eddington (1882–1944): British astrophysicist of the early 20th century. He was also a philosopher of science and a popularizer of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honor. He is famous for his work regarding the theory of relativity. Eddington was a lifelong Quaker, and gave the Gifford Lectures in 1927.[114]

• Alexis Carrel (1873–1944): French surgeon and biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for pioneering vascular suturing techniques.[115]

• Charles Glover Barkla (1877–1944): British physicist, and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1917 for his work in X-ray spectroscopy and related areas in the study of X-rays (Roentgen rays).[116] Mr. Barkla was a Methodist and considered his work to be part of the quest for God, the Creator".[117][118][119]

• John Ambrose Fleming (1849–1945): in science he is noted for the Right-hand rule and work on vacuum tubes. He also won the Hughes Medal. In religious activities he was President of the Victoria Institute, and preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields.[120][121][122]

• Philipp Lenard (1862–1947): German physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties. He was also an active proponent of the Nazi ideology.[123][124]

• Robert Millikan (1868–1953): 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.[125][126][127][128][129]

• Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943): was an Austrian biologist, physician, and immunologist.[130] In 1930, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Landsteiner converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism in 1890.[131]

• Charles Stine (1882–1954): son of a minister who was VP of DuPont. In religion he wrote A Chemist and His Bible and as a chemist he won the Perkin Medal.[132]

• Max Born (1882–1970): was a German physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. Born won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "fundamental research in Quantum Mechanics, especially in the statistical interpretation of the wave function"[133][134][135]

• 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.[136]

• Arthur Compton (1892–1962): 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.[137][138]

• Victor Francis Hess (1883–1964): Practicing Roman Catholic who won a Nobel Prize in Physics and discovered cosmic rays. [139] In 1946 he wrote on the topic of the relationship between science and religion in his article "My Faith", in which he explained why he believed in God. [140]

• Ronald Fisher (1890–1962): English statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He preached sermons and published articles in church magazines.[141]

• Georges Lemaître (1894–1966): Roman Catholic priest who was first to propose the Big Bang theory.[142]

• Kathleen Lonsdale (1903–1971): notable Irish crystallographer, the first woman tenured professor at University College London, first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography, and first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. She converted to Quakerism and was an active Christian pacifist. She was the first secretary of the Churches' Council of Healing and delivered a Swarthmore Lecture.

• Neil Kensington Adam (1891–1973): British chemist who wrote the article A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST'S APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF NATURAL SCIENCE.[143][144]

• David Lack (1910–1973): Director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology and in part known for his study of the genus Euplectes. He converted to Anglicanism at 38 and wrote Evolutionary Theory and Christian Belief in 1957.[145][146]

• Hugh Stott Taylor (1910–1974): chemist who received Villanova University's "Mendel Medal"[147] and was made a Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great.[148]

• Charles Coulson (1910–1974): Methodist who wrote Science and Christian Belief in 1955. In 1970 he won the Davy Medal.[149]

• George R. Price (1922–1975): American population geneticist who while a strong atheist converted to Christianity. He went on to write commentaries on the New Testament and dedicated portions of his life to helping the poor.[150]

• 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.[151][152]

• Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976): German theoretical physicist and one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics".[153]

• Michael Polanyi (1891–1976): born Jewish, but became a Christian. In 1926 he was appointed to a Chemistry chair in Berlin, but in 1933 when Hitler came to power he accepted a Chemistry chair (and then in 1948 a Social Sciences chair) at the University of Manchester. In 1946 he wrote Science, Faith, and Society ISBN 0-226-67290-5.[154]

• Wernher von Braun (1912–1977): "one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration during the period between the 1930s and the 1970s."[155] He was a Lutheran who as a youth and young man had little interest in religion. But as an adult he developed a firm belief in the Lord and in the afterlife. He was pleased to have opportunities to speak to peers (and anybody else who would listen) about his faith and Biblical beliefs.[156]

• Pascual Jordan (1902–1980): German theoretical and mathematical physicist who made significant contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. He contributed much to the mathematical form of matrix mechanics, and developed canonical anticommutation relations for fermions.[157][158]

• Peter Stoner (1888–1980): co-founder of the American Scientific Affiliation who wrote Science Speaks.[159][160]

• Gerty Cori (1896–1957): Czech-American biochemist who became the third woman—and first American woman—to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Gerty converted to Catholicism.[161][162]

• 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.[163][164]

• Mary Kenneth Keller (1914–1985): American nun who was the first woman to earn a PhD in Computer Science in the US.[165]

• William G. Pollard (1911–1989): Anglican priest who wrote Physicist and Christian. In addition he worked on the Manhattan Project and for years served as the executive director of Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies.[166]

• Frederick Rossini (1899–1990): American noted for his work in chemical thermodynamics. In science he received the Priestley Medal and the National Medal of Science. An example of the second medal is pictured. As a Catholic he received the Laetare Medal of the University of Notre Dame. He was dean of the College of Science at Notre Dame from 1960 to 1971, a position he may have taken partly due to his faith.[167][168]

• Aldert van der Ziel (1910–1991): researched Flicker noise and has the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers named an award for him. He also was a conservative Lutheran who wrote The Natural Sciences and the Christian Message.[169]

• Jérôme Lejeune (1926–1994): French pediatrician and geneticist known for research into chromosome abnormalities, particularly Down syndrome. He was the first President of the Pontifical Academy for Life and has been named a "Servant of God."[170][171]

• Alonzo Church (1903–1995): American mathematician and logician who made major contributions to mathematical logic and the foundations of theoretical computer science. He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church.[172]

• Ernest Walton (1903–1995): Irish physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 for his work with John Cockcroft with "atom-smashing" experiments done at Cambridge University in the early 1930s, and so became the first person in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering the nuclear age. He spoke on science and faith topics.[173]

• Nevill Francis Mott (1905–1996): Anglican, was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for explaining the effect of light on a photographic emulsion.[174] He was baptized at 80 and edited Can Scientists Believe?.[175]

• Mary Celine Fasenmyer (1906–1996): member of the Sisters of Mercy known for Sister Celine's polynomials. Her work was also important to WZ Theory.[176]

• John Eccles (1903–1997): Nobel laureate and neurophysiologist who was a devout theist and a practicing Catholic.[177]

• Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921–1999): Arthur Shawlow was an American physicist who is best remembered for his work on lasers, for which he shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics. Shawlow was a "fairy Orthodox Protestant."[178] In an interview, he commented regarding God: "I find a need for God in the universe and in my own life."[179]

• Carlos Chagas Filho (1910–2000): Neuroscientist 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. He was from Rio de Janeiro.[180]

2001–today (21st century)

• Sir Robert Boyd (1922–2004): 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.[181]

• Richard H. Bube (1927-2018): emeritus professor of the material sciences at Stanford University. He is a member of the American Scientific Affiliation.[182]

• Rod Davies (1930–2015): a professor of radio astronomy at the University of Manchester. He was the president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1987–1989, and director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in 1988–97. He is best known for his research on the cosmic microwave background and the 21 cm line.

• Alberto Dou Mas de Xaxàs (1915–2009): Spanish/Catalan Jesuit priest and one of the foremost mathematicians of his country. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and a Professor of Mathematics at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and he was Rector of Universidad de Deusto from 1974 to 1977.

• Richard Smalley (1943–2005): A Nobel laureate in Chemistry known for buckyballs. In his last years he renewed an interest in Christianity and supported Old Earth Creationism

• Mariano Artigas (1938–2006): He had doctorates in both physics and philosophy. He belonged to the European Association for the Study of Science and Theology and also received a grant from the Templeton Foundation for his work in the area of science and religion.[183]

• J. Laurence Kulp (1921–2006): Plymouth Brethren member who led major studies on the effects of nuclear fallout and acid rain. He was a prominent advocate in American Scientific Affiliation circles in favor of an Old Earth and against flood geology.[184][185][186][187]

• 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[188]

• John Billings (1918–2007): Australian physician who developed the Billings ovulation method of Natural family planning. In 1969, Billings was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG) by Pope Paul VI.[189]

• Russell L. Mixter (1906–2007): Noted for leading the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) away from anti-evolutionism, and for his advocacy of progressive creationism.[187][190]

• 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 Cosmogonyconcerned 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.[191]

• Stanley Jaki (1924–2009): Benedictine priest and Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, who won a Templeton Prize and advocated the idea modern science could only have arisen in a Christian society.[192]

• Allan Sandage (1926–2010): astronomer who did not really study Christianity until after age forty. He wrote the article A Scientist Reflects on Religious Belief and made discoveries concerning the Cigar Galaxy.[193][194][195][196]

• Ernan McMullin (1924–2011): Ordained in 1949 as a catholic priest, McMullin was a philosopher of science who taught at the University of Notre Dame. McMullin wrote on the relationship between cosmology and theology, the role of values in understanding science, and the impact of science on Western religious thought, in books such as Newton on Matter and Activity (1978) and The Inference that Makes Science (1992). He was also an expert on the life of Galileo.[197] McMullin also opposed intelligent design and defended theistic evolution.[198]

SOURCE : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christians_in_science_and_technology

As it is clear from both the arguments and the example of these scientists, you can be a good scientist and good Christian without any problem. The witnesses of these scientists is a testament to this fact. Science is not against Christianity or God or faith as some popular media propaganda suggests. God bless you and lead you into the truth.

Earliest document evidence for the biblical documents.

4 lectures by Prof. Peter Harrison, historian of science.