"What scientists believed in God?"

Albert Einstein (source: ‘God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists, Ray Comfort, Bridge Publishing Inc., USA, 1993, p28)

“Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe - a spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble”.

Charles Darwin (Source: Ibid, p73)

“I was a young man with unformed ideas I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion out of them!”

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Germany- Astronomer
· Found that planets move in elliptical paths, not in a random, chaotic way.

‘Kepler strongly believed that ‘The world of nature, the world of man, the world of God - all three fit together.’ In particular he reasoned that because the universe was designed by an intelligent Creator, it should function according to some logical pattern. ...Kepler sought and found a simple logical pattern for planetary motion which reflected God’s wisdom. As Kepler said: ‘We see how God, like a human architect, approached the founding of the world according to order and rule and measured everything in such a manner.’
Source of quotes: J.H. Tiner, Johannes Kepler - Giant of Faith and Science, Mott Media, Milford (Michigan), 1977, p193.

Robert Boyle (1627-1691) Ireland- Pioneer of modern chemistry
Achievements
· Showed that if the volume of a gas filled container was halved, the pressure exerted by the gas would be doubled. This relationship is called Boyle’s Law.
· Credited with inventing the first match
· First scientist to distinguish acids, bases, and neutral substances by using colour changes which they produce in other substances

· In Boyle’s day, true chemistry had not been distinguished clearly from alchemy. Boyle’s greatest contribution to science was therefore in helping to move scientific thinking from the intellectual argument approach to the experimental approach which is the basis of modern science
Boyle saw no conflict between his scientific work and his Christian faith. ‘He was particularly concerned... with demonstrating that science and religion were not only reconcilable but in fact integrally related.’ (McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973, Vol 2, p 125)

‘He accepted the bible as the true word of God, and ‘was thoroughly intolerant of preachers who spiritualised or allegorized important truths of the Bible rather than accepting them at face value’. He learned Hebrew and Aramaic so he could study the Old Testament in the original languages.

‘He became governor of a missionary organisation for propagating the Gospel in New England. He also supported missionary ventures in India, Scotland and Wales. Out of his own money, he paid to have the whole Bible translated into the Irish language and paid for its distribution. He also paid for translation and distribution of parts of the New Testament in Turkish and Arabic.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) England
· Developed the theory of universal gravitation using the inverse square law.
· Developed the three laws of motion
· ‘Developed a revolutionary new form of mathematics by applying his binomial theorem to infinite series: calculus. For the first time it was possible to accurately calculate the area inside a shape with curved sides and to calculate the rate of change of one physical quantity with respect to another.
· ‘He used prisms to show that sunlight was made up of different colours - the colours of the rainbow.
· Newton was the first to successfully construct a telescope using a curved mirror instead of a lens

‘Even scientists generally considered the motion of planets and the motion of bodies on the earth as separate problems. In contrast, Newton reasoned that since the same God created the heavens as well as the earth, the same laws should apply throughout. Newton developed his three laws of motion and proved mathematically that the same laws applied both to heavenly bodies and on earth.

Newton wrote, ‘This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being...This Being governs all things...as Lord of all.’

Newton wrote, “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the word of God, written by men who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.” Further, “Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.”

Source of quotes: J.H. Tiner, Isaac Newton - Inventor, Scientist and Teacher, Mott Media, Milford (Michigan), 1975

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) England, Discovered electricity
Achievements
· ‘Discovered benzene which was later used to manufacture many useful organic compounds such as dyes, nylon and plastics
· Demonstrated that an electric current could make a magnet move around a wire or make the wire move around the magnet. This electromagnetic rotation was the forerunner of the electric motor
· Invented the transformer used to convert high voltages to low voltages allowing electricity to be used for domestic purposes
· Invented the electric generator (generated electricity from magnetism) ‘He created a changing magnetic field by moving a bar magnet in and out of a hollow coil of insulated wire. As in the transformer, the changing magnetic field produces an electric current. This discovery made possible electric power generation as we know it today.’

‘When asked by a reporter what were his speculations regarding the hereafter, Faraday replied confidently , quoting the bible (2 Timothy 1:12) in his answer. “Speculations? I have none. I am resting on certainties. ‘I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.’ “
(F.W. Boreham, A Handful of Stars: Texts That Moved Great Minds, Epworth Press, 1st pocket edition, London, 1933, p180)

‘Faraday was an elder in his church for more than 20 years. His church did not have a paid clergyman. Instead, the elders, including Faraday, took turns at preaching the sermons and leading the worship. Faraday’s church emphasised living by Jesus’ words in the sermon on the Mount.’

James Clerk Maxwell, Scotland (1831-1879) Physicist

Achievements:
· First scientific paper - a mathematical analysis involving the ellipse - was published when he was only 15.
· Concluded that Saturn’s rings could not be completely solid, nor completely fluid. Instead they must consist of small but separate solid particles. Proved 100 year later when the first Voyager space probe reached Saturn.
· Produced 4 mathematical equations showing that magnetism, electricity and light were simple different manifestations of the same fundamental laws (This was the mathematical framework underlying Faraday’s experimental results. The 4 equations are ranked with Isaac Newton’s laws of motion and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
· Calculated the speed of electromagnetic waves, concluding that light was a type of electromagnetic wave.
· Radio, television, radar and satellite communication all have their origins in his electromagnetic theory.
· Through application of probability and statistics Maxwell worked out the most probable distribution of speeds of molecules. This is today known as ‘Maxwell distribution of speeds.’

‘In a paper he presented to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1873, he stated that: “No theory of evolution can be formed to account for the similarity of molecules, for evolution necessarily implies continuous change...The exact equality of each molecule to all others of the same kind gives it...the essential character of a manufactured article, and precludes the idea of its being eternal and self-existent.”
Source: J.C. Maxwell, ‘Discourse on Molecules,’ a paper presented to the British Association at Bradford in 1873.

Louis Pasteur, France (1822-1895) Discovered and killed germs

Achievements
· Developed method of gently heating foodstuffs like milk to prevent it going sour as a result of contact with microbes in the air. This process was called ‘pasteurization’
· Disproved theory of spontaneous generation at the microbe level, the belief that living matter arose from non-living matter. Spontaneous generation is an essential part of the theory of evolution. Pasteur proved that life must come from life. He wrote: “Microscopic beings must come into the world from parents similar to themselves.”

Pasteur believed that, “science brings men closer to God.” “The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.”

Source: Pasteur quoted in J.H. Tiner, Louis Pasteur - Founder of Modern Medicine, Mott Media, Milford (Michigan), 1990, p18.

Sir Joseph Lister, England (1827-1912) Antiseptic surgery

In the Edinburgh Hospital where Lister worked, almost half the surgery patients died from infection. In some hospitals in Europe, as many as 80% died. The thinking of the time was that these infections arose spontaneously inside the wound. Therefore it was thought that nothing could be done to reduce mortality rates of surgery patients.

Lister compared patients with simple fractures to those with compound fractures. Simple fractures do not involve an external wound. While the simple fracture patients recovered after their bones had been set in a cast, more than half the compound fracture patients died. Compound fractures are those where the broken bone pierces the skin and is exposed to air. Lister began washing hands before operating. Such washing was not widespread practice because the reasons behind their success was not yet understood by scientists.

Yet God taught the Israelites to wash after coming into contact with infection more than 3,000 years ago. In Leviticus 15:1-11 the people were instructed to wash themselves and their clothes after touching a person with an infection, or after touching anything the infected person had touched.

Lister learnt from the French chemist Louis Pasteur that is germs entering from outside the wound caused infection than the germs could be killed and infection prevented. Lister published his antisepsis procedures and experimental success in The Lancet 1867. His methods gradually gained acceptance over 12 years.

Other achievements:
· Demonstrated use of sterilised materials left inside patients
· Wired fractures
· Pioneered catgut stitches

He wrote. “I am a believer in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.” And he strongly opposed Darwinism.
Source: Lister quoted in H.M. Morris, Men of Science, Men of God. Master Books, Colorado Springs, 1982 p67

Wernher von Braun, Germany (1912-1977) Rocket Engineer

‘On July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. ...The Saturn V rocket which launched Armstrong and his fellow astronauts into space was largely the work of rocket engineer Wernher von Braun.

He wrote, “I find it...difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe.” “To be forced to believe only one conclusion - that everything in the universe happened by chance - would violate the very objectivity of science itself.”

Source: The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography, Vol. 11, p187
H.Morris, Men of Science, Men of God. Master Books, Colorado Springs, 1982, p85.