The Catholic Church and its Large Contributions to Science
Pope Francis Addresses To Participant In The Summer Courses Of The Vatican Observatory
"I am happy to welcome you, the professors and students of the summer course organized by the Jesuit Fathers of the Vatican Observatory. This impressive representation of persons from various countries and different cultures is a sign of how diversity can greatly enrich scientific research. I thank Father Paul Mueller, the Vice-Director of the Observatory, and the professors who generously accompany you young astronomers in the complex and exciting activity of studying the universe, the incomparable gift of the Creator." click here to read more
Sister Mary Kenneth Keller (PHD, 1965): The First PHD In Computer Science In The US
Sister Keller began her religious journey long before her academic one; born in Ohio in 1914, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1932. After professing her vows eight years later, she began studying at DePaul University, earning a B.S in Mathematics and an M.S. in Mathematics and Physics. She stood out in her gown and nun’s habit: Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, was the first person in the US to earn a PhD in computer science.
Sister Miriam: The Dominican nun who helped discover DNA
Sister Miriam (December 24, 1913 – June 17, 2002) was an Adrian Dominican and a professor of chemistry at Siena Heights University, Adrian, Michigan. The discovery of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, was a groundbreaking step in understanding the building blocks of all living creatures. DNA is a molecule in each cell that bears the genetic instructions for the development and reproduction of living organisms, including viruses.
The credit for the discovery of the DNA double helix has gone to American biologist James Watson, English physicist Francis Crick and New Zealand biologist Maurice Wilkins, but they would not have won their 1962 Nobel Prize without the work of several scientists before them, including Wilkins’ colleague Rosalind Franklin and Dominican Sister Miriam Michael Stimson.
The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
In the book name "How the catholic church built western civilization" it states this "Was it just a coincidence that modern science developed in a largely Catholic milieu, or was there something about Catholicism itself that enabled the success of science? Even to raise the question is to transgress the boundaries of fashionable opinion. Yet more and more scholars have begun to ask it, and their answers may come as a surprise. This is no small matter. The Catholic Church’s alleged hostility toward science may be her greatest debit in the popular mind. The one-sided version of the Galileo affair with which most people are familiar is very largely to blame for the widespread belief that the Church has obstructed the advance of scientific inquiry. But even if the Galileo incident had been every bit as bad as people think it was, John Henry Cardinal Newman, the celebrated nineteenth-century convert from Anglicanism, found it revealing that this is practically the only example that ever comes to mind." p(.67)
Linked Sources:
Onwisconsin Articlen | Computer Sciences | Chemistry professor
