A Great Christian Scientist Has Left the Building!

[Philip]

Don't know if any of you are familiar with Dr. Charles Townes, who died yesterday, at 99. He was an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist, known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, on which he received the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964. He particularly stressed that scientific analysis is possible because of consistency in the laws governing what has been made and what observations can be gleaned by studying God's creation.

Not only renowned for his scientific influence, discoveries and Nobel prize, but Charles was also well-known as a Christian of deep faith. He remained active in research, until nearly the last six months, weekly, being driven to his Berkeley office. I know a fair bit about him as he is from South Carolina (as am I), and we have a close mutual friend, whom, when I talked to this morning, was rather upset that they didn't get to give Charles his 100th BD party.

Here's a fascinating article he wrote, entitled, "The Convergence of Science and Religion" http://www.templetonprize.org/pdfs/THINK.pdf

NY Times article on his life and death: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/01 ... .html?_r=0

Great man!

[1over137]

Thanks Philip. I will at least now get to know something about him.

[neo-x]

Thanks for sharing.

[PaulSacramento]

Thanks Philip.

[sciencebusiness]

Philip,

I read the article. Is Charles Townes a deist?

Science

[RickD]

Philip,

I read the article. Is Charles Townes a deist?

Science

According to this article, he considered himself a Protestant Christian.

Calling himself a Protestant Christian, Dr. Townes saw science and religion as compatible, saying there was little difference between a scientific revelation, like his maser brainstorm, and a religious one.

“Understanding the order of the universe and understanding the purpose in the universe are not identical,” he acknowledged in a paper in 1966, “but they are not very far apart.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/us ... rrer=&_r=0

[sciencebusiness]

Philip,

I've never heard a Christian say Guatama Budda had some "great ideas".

Since you know this man more closely than any of us, would you like to
elaborate on this statement?

Science

[Philip]

ScienceBusiness, welcome to the forum!

I think I mistook you for someone else? Anyway, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background.

Thanks.

[Proinsias]

I've never heard a Christian say Guatama Budda had some "great ideas".

Not sure where this came from either but on the subject Sister Elaine MacInnes is one such person. There a nice wee youtube clip of her story over here

[Philip]

It came for an analogy he made in a 50-year-old essay on faith and science. He was most certainly a true follower of Christ as God and Savior!