Introduction

• There is link to a list of Contributors from Other Faiths towards the end of this page.
• This list is by no means complete and I will add to it as time allows. These contributors are listed in no particular order.
• This list proves through empirical evidence, that there is no intellectual advantage to being an Atheist.

Video Primer

Some Background Information

In 313 the Edict of Milan ended Christian persecution in the Roman Empire. Although this is not the start of Christianity it may well be the start of Christians recorded achievements in many pursuits, including science.

The Edict of Nantes (1598) was an important event in allowing religious toleration among Christians. Hence this increased the ability of different kind of Christians to work in science among other things.

Catholic Contributors to Science

Roman Catholic Layman
Molecular Biologist
Cell Biology
Biochemist
Evolutionary Biologist
Science Advocate
Author

Father of Genetics
Augustinian Catholic Priest

Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884) was a German speaking Austrian Augustinian priest and scientist, and is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants. Mendel showed that the inheritance of these traits follows particular laws, which were later named after him. The significance of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century. Its rediscovery prompted the foundation of the discipline of genetics. Click here to read more.

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Francesco Faà di Bruno

Roman Catholic Saint (Beatified 1988)
Roman Catholic Deacon ordained on 18 December 1856.
Roman Catholic Priest ordained on 4 January 1857.
Mathematician
Writer

Francesco Faà di Bruno (29 March 1825–27 March 1888) was an Italian mathematician and priest, born at Alessandria. He was of noble birth, and held, at one time, the rank of captain-of-staff in the Sardinian Army. Coming to Paris, he resigned his commission, studied under Augustin Cauchy, and Urbain Le Verrier, who shared in the discovery of the planet Neptune, and he became intimate with Abbé Moigno and Charles Hermite. On his return to Turin, he was ordained, but the remainder of his life was spent as Professor of Mathematics at the University. In recognition of his achievements as a mathematician, the degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on him by the Universities of Paris and Turin. Click here to read the full article.

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Julian Tenison Woods

Roman Catholic Priest
Co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart
Awarded the Clarke Medal for distinguished contribution to Natural Science

Julian Edmund Tenison Woods (15 November 1832 – 7 October 1889) was an English Roman Catholic priest and geologist, active in Australia. Click here for more information.

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Louis Pasteur

Roman Catholic Layman
One of the three Founders of Microbiology.
Founder Immunology
Invented First vaccination for Rabies.
Inventor of Pasteurization (hence the it's name).
Pioneer in the field Chemistry. Made several discoveries in this field.

Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of disease. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease, also reducing mortality from puerperal fever (childbed), and he created the first vaccine for rabies. He was best known to the general public for inventing a method to stop milk and wine from causing sickness - this process came to be called Pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. Pasteur also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the molecular basis for the asymmetry of certain crystals.[1] He is buried beneath the Institut Pasteur, a rare honor in France, where being buried in a cemetery is mandatory save for the fewer than 300 "Great Men" who are entombed in the Panthéon. Click here to read more.

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St. George Jackson Mivart

Roman Catholic Layman
English Biologist
Fellow of the Zoological Society of London

St. George Jackson Mivart PhD MD FRS (November 30, 1827 – April 1, 1900) was an English biologist. He is famous for starting as an ardent believer in natural selection who later became one of its fiercest critics. Trying to reconcile Darwin's theory of evolution with the beliefs of the Catholic Church, he ended up being condemned by both parties. Click here for his Wikipedia page.

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Armand David

Roman Catholic Priest
Zoologist
Botanist
Found in China all together 200 species of wild animals, of which 63 were hitherto unknown to zoologists.
Found 807 species of birds, 65 of which had not been described before.

Father Armand David (27 September 1826 near Bayonne –10 November 1900 in Paris) was a Lazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as a zoologist and a botanist. Click here to read more.

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Stanley L. Jaki, OSB

Roman Catholic Benedictine priest.
Professor of Physics
Leading thinker in the philosophy of science, theology and where they meet.
Awarded the Templeton Prize (1987)

Benedictine priest and Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, who won a Templeton Prize and advocates the idea modern science could only have arisen in a Christian society. Click here to read more.

Alexander Fleming

Roman Catholic Layman
Neuroscientist
Physician
Biologist
Headed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for 16 years.
Studied the Shroud of Turin

A neuroscientist from Rio de Janeiro who headed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for 16 years. He studied the Shroud of Turin and his "the Origin of the Universe", "the Origin of Life", and "the Origin of Man" involved an understanding between Catholicism and Science. Click here to read more.

Roman Catholic Cleric
Founder of Heliocentric Cosmology
Mathematician
Astronomer
Physician
Classical Scholar
Translator
Artist
Jurist
Governor
Military leader
Diplomat
Economist
Among the great polymaths of the Renaissance.

Roman Catholic Deacon
Physics
Astronomy
Magnetic Resonance
Solid State Physics
Superconductivity
Applications of Clifford Algebras.

Roman Catholic Layman
Nobel Prize Loreate in Physiology or Medicine (1963)

Roman Catholic Priest ordained 1959.
Friend of Pope John Paul II
Professor of philosophy
Member of the Vatican Observatory staff.
Founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion.
Mathematical physicist
Lecturer in the philosophy of science and logic
Winner of the Templeton Prize

He is a Catholic priest, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion.' He also is a mathematical physicist who has written articles on relativistic physics and Noncommutative geometry. His cross-disciplinary book Creative Tension: Essays on Science and Religion came out in 2003. For this work he won a Templeton Prize. He teaches at Kraków, hence the picture of a Basilica from the city. Click here for more about him on Wikipedia.

See Also: Professor wins prize for maths link to God
See Also: Million-Dollar Prize Given to Cosmologist Priest (New York Times)

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E. T. Whittaker

Roman Catholic Layman
Mathematician
Awarded Copley Medal
Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Author: Space and Spirit.
Author:Theories of the Universe and the Arguments for the Existence of God.

Edmund Taylor Whittaker (24 October 1873 - 24 March 1956) was a mathematician who contributed widely to applied mathematics, mathematical physics and the theory of special functions. He had a particular interest in numerical analysis, but also worked on celestial mechanics and the history of physics. Near the end of his career he received the Copley Medal, the most prestigious honorary award in British science. Click here to read more.

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Pierre Duhem

Catholic Layman
Physicist
Mathematician
Philosopher of Science
Wrote histories advocating that the Roman Catholic Church helped advance science.

Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (10 June 1861 – 14 September 1916) was a French physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science, best known for his writings on the indeterminacy of experimental criteria and on scientific development in the Middle Ages. Duhem also made major contributions to the science of his day, particularly in the fields of hydrodynamics, elasticity, and thermodynamics. Click here to read more about Pierre Duhem.

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Leonardo da Vinci

Roman Catholic Layman
Polymath
Scientist
Mathematician
Engineer
Inventor
Anatomist
Painter
Sculptor
Architect
Botanist
Musician
Writer

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (it-Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.ogg pronunciation (help·info), April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention.[1] He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. Helen Gardner says "The scope and depth of his interests were without precedent. His mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote". Click here to read more on Wikipedia.

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Jesuit Scientists

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ, SI) is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.

• José de Acosta (1540–1600), one of the first naturalists and anthropologists of the Americas.
• François d'Aguilon-Belgian mathematician and physicist who worked on optics.
• Giuseppe Asclepi-Italian astronomer.
• Joseph Bayma-He did work relating to stereochemistry.
• Giuseppe Biancani-Astronomer and selenographer who wrote Sphaera mundi, seu cosmographia demonstrativa, ac facili methodo tradita
• Bonaventure Berloty-first director of the Ksara Observatory in Lebanon.
• Michel Benoist-Missionary to China and scientist.
• Mario Bettinus-Mathematician and astronomer.
• Jacques de Billy-He wrote on number theory and astronomy.
• Michał Boym-Missionary to China known for botanical and zoological works.
• Roger Joseph Boscovich-Polymath famous for his atomic theory in part. Also for devising perhaps the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position.
• Paolo Casati-Meteorology and speculation on Vacuums.
• Tommaso Ceva-Mathematician and poet who wrote a work on geometry.
• Christopher Clavius-Most noted in connection with the Gregorian calendar, but also his arithmetic books were used by many mathematicians including Leibniz and Descartes.
• Guy Consolmagno-An astronomer at the Vatican Observatory who has primarily devoted himself to planetary science.
• George V. Coyne-Astronomer whose research interests have been in polarimetric studies of various subjects including Seyfert galaxies.
• Albert Curtz-German astronomer.
• James Cullen (mathematician)-Known for the Cullen numbers.
• Johann Baptist Cysat-He did important research on comets and the Orion nebula.
• Jean-Charles de la Faille-Belgian mathematician.
• Josef Dobrovský-philologist, linguist, slavist and historian. One of most promminent persons in Czech national revival.
• Gyula Fényi-Hungarian astronomer noted for his observations of the Sun.
• José Gabriel Funes-Argentine who currently heads the Vatican Observatory, succeeding George Coyne.
• Christoph Grienberger-Astronomer and mathematician.
• Francesco Maria Grimaldi-He coined the word 'diffraction' and used instruments to measure geological features on the Moon.
• Maximilian Hell-A director of the Vienna Observatory who wrote astronomy tables and observed the Transit of Venus.
• Pierre Marie Heude-French missionary and zoologist.
• Georg Joseph Kamel-Missionary and botanist, the genus Camellia is named for him.
• Athanasius Kircher-In his Scrutinium Pestis of 1658 he noted the presence of "little worms" or "animalcules" in the blood, and concluded that the disease was caused by microorganisms. This is antecedent to germ theory.
• Wenceslas Pantaleon Kirwitzer-Astronomer and missionary to China.
• Franz Xaver Kugler-Most known for his study of cuneiform tablets he was also a chemist.
• Antoine de Laloubère-Mathematician who studied the properties of the helix.
• Eugene Lafont- Founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
• Manuel Magri (1851-1907) - Maltese folklorist and archaeologist.
• Charles Malapert-Known for observing the stars of the southern sky and being against Copernicus.
• Paul McNally-American astronomer who was a director of the Georgetown observatory.
• Christian Mayer-Czech astronomer known for pioneering study of binary stars.
• Juan Ignacio Molina-Chilean ornithologist and a botanist with a Author citation (botany).
• Alexius Sylvius Polonus-Polish astronomer.
• Franz Reinzer-He wrote about comets, meteors, lightning, winds, fossils, metals, etc.
• Vincenzo Riccati-Jesuit mathematician and physicist.
• Matteo Ricci-Mathematician, math translator, and noted for importance to the Jesuit China missions.
• Giovanni Battista Riccioli-He wrote several works on astronomy and was the first to note that Mizar was a "double star."
• Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri-A mathematician who was perhaps the first European to write about Non-Euclidean geometry.
• Christoph Scheiner-Astronomer noted for a dispute with Galileo Galilei over the discovery of Sunspots.
• Gaspar Schott-He wrote on various mechanical and scientific topics, example gear, but little original research.
• Angelo Secchi-He discovered the existence of solar spicules and drew an early map of Mars
• Gerolamo Sersale-Selenographer, the crater Sirsalis (crater) is named for him.
• Ignacije Szentmartony-"obtained the title of royal mathematician and astronomer" and used his astronomical knowledge in mapping parts of Brazil
• André Tacquet-His work prepared ground for the eventual discovery of calculus.
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin-French Palaeontologist and philosopher involved in the discovery of the so-called Peking Man.
• Franz de Paula Triesnecker-Austrian astronomer.
• Theodor Wulf-Among the first experimenters to detect excess atmospheric radiation.
• Niccolo Zucchi-Italian astronomer known for his study of Jupiter and work on telescope design.
• Giovanni Battista Zupi-Italian astronomer who discovered that Mercury had orbital phases.

Literary Contributions

Catholic Layman
Friend of C.S. Lewis often credited for Lewis' conversion to Christianity from Atheism. (Christian Writer famous for "Mere Christianity" and "The Lion The With and The Wardrobe")

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Click here to read more about him.

Roman Catholic Layman
Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature (1952)

François Mauriac (11 October 1885 — 1 September 1970) was a French author; member of the Académie française (1933); laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1952). He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur (1958). He is acknowledged to be one of the greatest Roman Catholic writers of the 20th century. Click here for his Wikipedia page.

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Sigrid Undset

Roman Catholic Layperson.
Lay Dominican (Third Order of Saint Dominic)
Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature (1928)

Sigrid Undset (20 May 1882–10 June 1949) was a Norwegian novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928.
Undset was born in Kalundborg, Denmark, but her family moved to Norway when she was two years old. In 1924, she converted to Catholicism and became a lay Dominican. She fled Norway for the United States in 1940 because of her opposition to Nazi Germany and the German occupation, but returned after World War II ended in 1945. Click here to read more.

Contributors to Peace

Kim Dae-Jung

Roman Catholic Layman
15th President of South Korea
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2000)
Called the "Nelson Mandela of Asia"
Only South Korean Nobel Prize Laureate

Kim Dae-jung (Born December 3, 1925, is a former South Korean president and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He is the first and only Nobel laureate from Korea.[1] A Roman Catholic since 1957, he has been called the "Nelson Mandela of Asia"[2] for his long-standing opposition to authoritarian rule. Kim Dae-jung was the President (succeeding Kim Young-sam) from 1998 to 2003. Click here for his Wikipedia page.

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Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Roman Catholic Layman
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (born November 26, 1931 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize. He is noted for leading protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas and for alleging that the Argentine police are forming children into paramilitary squads, an operation he compares to the creation of Nazi Germany. Click here for his Wikipedia article.

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Mother Teresa

President Ronald Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony, 1985

Mother Teresa, one of the more renowned figures on this page, is someone of whom much can be said, as far as her accomplishments, care and love for the people she encountered during her time on Earth. She received not only the Presidential Medal of freedom, but is a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, as well as the recipient of several other awards and recognitions.

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Click here for her Wikipedia entry.

Pope John Paul II The Great

President Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II during a visit to the Vatican, June 2004.

He has been credited with the downfall of the Soviet Union ^{[2][4][5][6][7][3][102]}. He was a champion of freedom, and of Peace. John Paul II The Great, so called because of his case of beatification being opened, was almost Martyred three times, the latest attempt, funded by Al Qaeda, was thwarted when a chemical fire alerted authorities to the activites of the would be murderers.

Click here to read his Wikipedia Article.

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Other Christian Thinkers

Wikipedia currently has a list of Christian thinkers in Science. This list is extensive and includes almost everyone on my list here (save the Jesuits) and includes non Catholics.

View the List of Christian Thinkers in Science Wikipedia page by clicking here.