It happened on JUNE 13

1831

The Scotch physicist James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh. One of the chief figures among 19th century physicists, he synthesized and systematized the equations that describe an electromagnetic field. His Christian faith permeated his scientific work and, according to his own testimony, was at times a source of inspiration. One of his prayers was: “Almighty God, Who hast created man in Thine own image, and made him a living soul that he might seek after Thee, and have dominion over Thy creatures, teach us to study the works of Thy hands, that we may subdue the earth to our use, and strengthen the reason for Thy service; so to receive Thy blessed Word, that we may believe in Him Whom Thou hast sent, to give us the knowledge of salvation and the remission of our sins. All of which we ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
 

1884

Etienne Gilson was born in Paris. He was the principal 20th century interpreter of neo-Thomism. His works on the relationship between philosophy and theology contain important references to the role of scientific thought, such as those found in God and Philosophy (1941). He contributed to reviving Thomistic philosophy in the sphere of epistemology, reconciling metaphysical thought with the contemporary interpretation of the real.
 

1926

Jerome Lejeune was born. He had been a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1974 and was the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. He was one of the chief geneticists of the last century, noted for his research on chromosomal anomalies in human hereditary genetics. He was an ardent defender of prenatal human life and an esteemed scientific researcher.

INTERS.org

On the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology


Readings on Quantum Mechanics: An Introduction, by Gabiele Coci

Matter and Light. The New Physics (1937), by Louis de Broglie

The Meaning of Beauty in Exact Natural Science (1970), by Werner Heisenberg

Quantum Mechanics (2002), by John Polkinghorne, from INTERS 

Faith and Quantum Theory (2007), by Stephen Barr

Quantum Mechanics. Philosophical and Theological Implications (2019), by Javier Sánchez Cañizares, from INTERS


Articles of Historical Interest

Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? (1935), by A. Einstein, B. Podolski, N. Rosen

On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox (1964), by J.S. Bell

Experimental Realization of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm Gedankenexperiment: A New Violation of Bell's Inequalities (1982), by A. Aspect, P. Grangier and G. Roger

Moreover…

Pursuing Scientific Humanism. Letters Between Werner Heisenberg and Enrico Cantore, 1967-1976, a forthcoming book edited by Claudio Tagliapietra, INTERS staff

    

Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science

The Encyclopedia, published by the Centro di Documentazione Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, provides new, scholarly articles in the rapidly growing international field of Religion and Science (ISSN: 2037-2329). INTERS is a free online encyclopedia.

Anthology and Documents

To emphasize and spread relevant documents within the scientific community, this section provides key materials concerning the dialogue among science, philosophy and theology.

   

Special Issues

We offer here a selection of comments and documents on special issues in Religion and Science, collected for anniversaries and/or for the relevance of the topics.