It happened on SEPTEMBER 27

1540

Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Traditionally geared toward the intellectual classes, the Jesuit order has had a great number of members who were scientists. These men were key figures in the foundation and development of scientific research until at least the 19th century. In our day, the Society of Jesus is entrusted with the Vatican Observatory, an astronomical research institute and observatory supported by the Holy See, with branches in Tucson (Arizona) and Castelgandolfo (outside of Rome).

2020

John David Barrow, mathematician, cosmologist, scientific divulger, dies in Cambridge (UK). Winner of the Templeton Prize in 2006, he distinguished himself for making science dialogue with art and with the other humanistic aspects of culture. His name is associated with the noteworthy work The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, published in 1986 with Frank Tipler.

INTERS.org

400th Anniversary: Blaise Pascal's birth (1623 - 1662)

Pope Francis, The Grandeur and Misery of Man, Apostolic Letter on the IV Centenary of the Birth

Blaise Pascal and the Youth of the Sixty-Eight, by Giuseppe Tanzella - Nitti

Pascal on Faith and Reason: Thoughts beyond the Wager, by Luca Arcangeli

What was the influence of Blaise Pascal in the development of science in the seventeenth century?, by Luca Granieri

The Inescapable Human Reflection on the Ultimate Questions, from Penseés, nn. 194-195

Truth is known not only with reason, but also with the heart, from Penseés, nn. 282, 245

Pascal's "Memorial"

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.

Websites on Science and Religion

Articles of Historical Interest

A selection of book reviews from "Reviews in Science, Religion and Theology" (ISSR & ESSSAT)

2009

Documents for the 2009 Anniversary:
International Year of Astronomy
and II Centenary
of Darwin’s birth

in italiano

Break time

Parallel universe

Ideas

Science demands also the believing spirit. Anybody who has seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind, realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: You must have faith. It is a quality which the scientists cannot dispense with.

M. Planck, Where is Science Going? (New York: Norton 1932), p. 214.