Category Archives: Science

Religious Scientists: One Year In

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This entry is part 14 of 14 in the series Religious Scientists of the Catholic Church

Wow, it has already been a year since the first post on this series about religious scientists.  In that year, we’ve looked at men and women who have contributed to astronomy and astrophysics, biology, chemistry, paleontology, computer science, meteoritics,  medicine, and more. My goal in starting the column was to highlight people who had religious vocations (priests, monks, sisters, brothers, etc.) who at the same time contributed to our scientific understanding of the natural world. These people serve as a sign to the world of the compatibility of faith and science. I thought I would celebrate the completion of this year by taking a brief pause and looking back at the people discussed in previous posts. This also serves as an opportunity for you the reader to catch up on anyone that you may have missed. Fr. Angelo Secchi S.J.:  Jesuit priest. He is one of the pioneers of astrophysics. He developed a spectral classification system for stars and was … Continue reading →

Science and the Smell of the Violet

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Science.  Religion.  The Humanities.  Which has the upper hand regarding claims about what is true?  Many would say Science.  It is based on evidence and reason.  It is reproducible.  It is self-correcting.  It has produced the modern world, and it is what the modern world values most.  Regarding Science and the Humanities, just think of the rising support for STEM subjects in education, and the declining support for the Humanities.  Regarding Science and Religion, well, just think of the Galileo story. But a few weeks ago we saw a bad side of Science (click here for that post).  We saw Science declaring that evidence and reason and the like showed that All Men Are Not Created Equal—declaring that some are “true men” (to use the language of the time), while others are not; indeed, they might even be a different species from the “true men”.  This was part of what is now often termed “scientific racism”.  It is no longer … Continue reading →

Trinity of Videos about the Vatican Observatory

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A trinity of new videos about the Vatican Observatory is available on YouTube! In these videos produced by Brady Haran and James Hennessy, Brother Guy Consolmagno shows you some of the Vatican Observatory’s more notable meteorites, various items in the Vatican Observatory’s Museum, and gives you a tour of the Vatican Observatory’s historic telescopes. In an interview, Br. Guy answers numerous questions about faith and science, and discusses the role of the Vatican Observatory. The Pope’s Space Rocks (YouTube:Objectivity #221 – 10:55) Brother Guy Consolmagno gives Brady Haran a tour of the Vatican Observatory; he shows meteorites from the Vatican Observatory’s collection, and tells some interesting stories behind a few of them. He shows a remarkable antique clock from the end of the 1800s – its pendulum filled with Mercury! Br. Guy also shows the Vatican flag that flew to the Moon on Apollo 17! Before the advent of digital imaging technology, astronomical imaging was done using photographic plates; Br. … Continue reading →

Religious Scientists: Canon Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543); Heliocentricism

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This entry is part 13 of 14 in the series Religious Scientists of the Catholic Church

When the name Copernicus is mentioned, what often comes to mind is the role that his heliocentric theory played in the Galileo affair. This creates the false impression of Copernicus as a controversial figure at loggerheads with Church authority. In reality, Copernicus was himself a Church figure. He was a canon (a church administrative role that at the time required ordination to minor orders) at his uncle’s diocese in Warmia. He held a doctorate in canon law. When his heliocentric system was presented to Pope Clement VII in 1533, it was favorably and enthusiastically received. Cardinal von Schoenberg of Capua encouraged him in a letter to promulgate the theory widely. In the seventy years after the publication of De Revolutionibus (until Galileo published his Siderius Nuncius) Copernicus’ work saw almost no objections on theological grounds. Biographical Sketch: Mikołaj Kopernik was born in Toruń in modern-day Poland on (it is believed) February 19, 1473. His father was a copper merchant, and … Continue reading →

Religious Scientists: Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955); Jesuit paleontologist

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This entry is part 12 of 14 in the series Religious Scientists of the Catholic Church

If one mentions the name Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the first thing that comes to mind is his philosophical/theological speculation on the evolution of Creation and mankind toward its ultimate Omega Point. During his lifetime (i.e. before the Second Vatican Council), such theories were quite controversial and he was not permitted to publish them. Even today, while many people embrace his writings, others continue to view them with skepticism. Regardless of one’s views regarding his theology or philosophy, one must also recognize that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was quite an accomplished scientist in the fields of paleontology and geology. He investigated early hominids, and took part in the discovery of Peking Man in China. Biographical Sketch: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born on the first of May, 1881, into a large French family in the region of Auvergne. His father instilled in him an interest in geology, and his mother encouraged his prayer and spiritual development. He attended a Jesuit … Continue reading →

Soaring in Kentucky in 2019

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There were two bald eagles soaring over the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky one Saturday this past October.  My wife and I saw them while we were taking a walk on a brisk, fall day.  They were wheeling far overhead in a perfect azure sky.  It was October 12.  The eagles were not soaring over some remote part of the Ohio River—they were on the river where it passes right between the downtowns of Louisville on one side, and Jeffersonville, Indiana on the other.  Below the eagles were bridges, boats, cars, buildings, parks, and lots of people out enjoying the day. The first time I ever saw a bald eagle in the wild was also on the Ohio River.  This was in the early 2000s, when my family was exploring a remote area west of Leavenworth, Indiana.  Then, a few years later, when my college’s observatory was located in Otter Creek Park, on the river well south-east of Louisville, everyone … Continue reading →

Bones in Space – Solarblack

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Solar Orbiter In February 2020 an Irish company will showcase to the world its innovative use of burnt bone charcoal. ENBIO has developed a use for charred bone with its unique product Solarblack. This product will bring heatshields for spacecraft to another level. ESA’s Solar Orbiter is due to launch on February 5th. Bones in space – Solarblack high technology for the next decade. Solarblack The application of Solarblack to heatshields is for the thermal protection of spacecraft working in the harsh environs of space. Yes, the Solar Orbiter space probe will soon be on its way to study the sun. Its duty is to  inform us more fully about the origins of spaceweather. The mission will  to being a  manmade probe closer to our star than ever  before. The word Solarblack suggest bright and dark. The brightest thing you can think of i.e. the Sun and the darkest colour of all, pure black. This product is a Thermo optical … Continue reading →

Goodnight to the Lake of Death

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This entry is part 15 of 19 in the series Lunarcy

Often I show image covering from Aristoteles to Hercules in sunrise. But here I want to zoom in on a small area of that region this time at sunset. Just above center in this image is the crater Burg (41km dia.) in the center of the rough hexagon of Lacus Mortis (155km). The detail in the eastern wall of Burg is nicely displayed here along with several of the diverse rimae on the floor of this Lacus. Below Burg are two wonderful craters, the flat floored Mason (44km) on the right and Plana (46km) with the little central peak to the left. That central peak, with the 3km impact crater on the south side, is only the tip of what was once a much larger mountain but for the lava flooding of this crater that filled up the interior. The only feature on the floor of this crater seen here is a small (2.5km dia.) crater at the tip of … Continue reading →

Religious Scientists: Sr. Mary Kenneth Keller B.V.M. (1913-1985) – Computer Science

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This entry is part 11 of 14 in the series Religious Scientists of the Catholic Church

When I was little, my dad bought an Apple II+ computer.  Every Christmas, my uncle would send us a pack of computer games on 5.25-inch floppy disks. We spent countless hours playing those games on its primitive green pixelated screen.  It was fun to play games made by somebody else, but even better was when I learned to make the computer do what I wanted it to do, with a little programming.  I learned a very simple computer language called Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, or BASIC.  With it, I made my own games, limited only by my imagination and skill.  For the freedom that programming in BASIC gave me, I have to thank a nun: Sr. Mary Kenneth Keller. Biographical Sketch: She was born Evelyn Marie Keller on Dec 17, 1913 (different sources disagree on this date) in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1932, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where she took the name Mary … Continue reading →

Blaise Pascal: to God through Math

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There is something whose existence is known to many, but that is infinite, and thus ultimately unknowable.  In the words of one person who has studied this thing extensively, exploring it is similar to exploring the universe.  We can learn more and more about it, and yet, because it is infinite, what we learn amounts to nothing in comparison to what there is to learn. The thing I am talking about here is pi (π): the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, as in C = πD.  The mathematician David Chudnovsky, who developed algorithms for calculating pi to billions of digits, made the comparison between it and the universe. Mathematics is a form of knowledge that is terribly undervalued today.  Try saying something really favorable about mathematics to a group of people.  See what reaction you get.  Even highly-educated people feel free to talk about how they do not like math or are not good at … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook: Dec 1, 1911 – Charles G. Abbot

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This entry is part 25 of 37 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from the first of December, 1911, when Charles G. Abbot made a visit. Next to his name, Charles Greeley Abbot (1872-1973) wrote, “Director Astrophysical Observatory, Washington D.C.” At the time of his visit, he was director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). He was the observatory’s second director, succeeding its founder Samuel Pierpont Langley in 1907. In 1928 he would become the fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, but also remained director of the SAO until his retirement in 1944. While director of the SAO, Abbot oversaw the construction of an observatory facility atop Mount Whitney, in California.  His research focused mostly on the Sun and solar radiation.  He participated in several eclipse expeditions.  He carefully measured the quantity and character of solar … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Christmas Presence

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This entry is part 52 of 190 in the series Across the Universe

This column was first published in The Tablet in December, 2007) We first published it here in 2015. Job is not a book most people think of for the Christmas season. But there’s an echo of the angels’ Christmas song to the shepherds when God asks Job (in Chapter 38, verse 7) if any human can claim to have been around at the moment of creation, that time “when the morning stars sang together, and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy.” The song of the morning stars is poetry of the highest order. Kepler referred to the motions of the planets among those stars as “the music of the spheres.” In one of my favorite childhood novels, A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle (who, sadly, died this past year [2007]), her young hero actually encounters, in person, the singing spirits of stars. The image reminds us that in its essence, creation is a source of joy; and a lot of fun. … Continue reading →