OCTOBER 2006

ISSUE 8 - ISSN 1448- 6326

HISTORICAL PARTICIPATION OF CHRISTIAN CHURCH MINISTERS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE: AN ECUMENICAL SURVEY

FRANCOIS BARRIQUAND

Abstract

Quite a number of church ministers have contributed to science in a remarkable way. Information about each of them can be found easily in the literature, but very few, if any, general surveys have been made of their overall contribution. The present document constitutes a first step in this direction. All the most notable scientific contributions of church ministers known to the author have been arranged in a mainly chronological order. The general picture that emerges tends to show that church ministry and science have rarely been far from each other.

God gave me sure knowledge of what exists,

to understand the structure of the world and the action of the elements,

the beginning, end and middle of times,

the alternation of solstices and the succession of seasons,

the cycles of the year(s) and the position of the stars,

the natures of animals and the instincts of wild beasts,

the powers of spirits and human mental processes,

the varieties of plants and the medical properties of roots.

And now I understand everything, hidden or visible,

for Wisdom, the designer of all things, has instructed me. (Wisdom 7:17-21)

Introduction

The main purpose of the following survey is to present within a single document concise information concerning the scientific contributions of Church ministers belonging either to the Catholic Church or to Eastern, Orthodox and Protestant Churches. The present study is not conceived as an apology. It is basically written as a kind of encyclopedic article, except for the fact that it does not claim to be exhaustive, and that the information provided, always voluntarily brief, sometimes lacks of precision. The hope of the author is that curious readers will use the references gathered here as a convenient starting point for their personal researches. The names selected here are those whose contributions appear most significant or original. However, scientific research has become more and more collective in nature, so that for the twentieth century in particular, the selection of individual names appears less meaningful. All the disciplines connected with Church ministry to some degree, such as linguistics, geography, architecture and arts (especially music) have all been excluded from this study. To decide whether some people qualify as “church ministers” is sometimes nearly as difficult as to evaluate their scientific contribution. As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the church ministers listed here are, most of the time, priests (or sometimes bishops). However, original situations sometimes appear. For instance, this study mentions a non-ordained cardinal (Michelangelo Ricci), a deacon (abbé Nollet), non-ordained canons (Nicolas Copernic, Jean-Jacques Dony), non-ordained religious brothers or sisters (Giambattista Della Porta, Hilary Ross) and a layman who received minor orders (Leon Battista Alberti). For Protestant Churches, pastors have been mentioned independently of the duration of their work as a pastor. Some of the church ministers named here have tended to neglect theology in favor of scientific study, while others have made the reverse choice, and while still others have managed to find a harmonious balance between pastoral work and scientific studies. As a rule, the quality of their religious commitment is not discussed here, since any judgment on the intimate beliefs of a person is often hazardous, to say the least. A more detailed study could mention many more names, since many clerics have practiced astronomy and botany as a kind of hobby and have produced some popular scientific literature whose inventory would require an enormous amount of work. Except from rare exceptions, the implication of clerics in the foundation of schools or universities is not mentioned, although it is through such institutions that the contribution of Christianity to international science has been the greatest, independently of the contribution of individual ecclesiastic personalities.

The End of Antiquity (ca. 0-500)

Saint Basil, Saint Augustine

During the first three centuries of Christianity, the precarious social situation of Christian faithfuls in the Roman Empire does not facilitate their participation to cultural life. In the region of Alexandria, the bishop saint Anatolius (?-283) composes ten books of mathematics that have been lost today. With the edict of Milan (313) authorizing Christian faith in the Roman Empire, and with the edict of Theodose (391) banishing pagan cults, the situation of Christians dramatically changes within less than a century. The edict of Theodose has regretful consequences, notably in Alexandria where the Serapeum (a temple serving as an annex of the Great Library) is destroyed with the support of civil and religious authorities (notably that of bishop Theophilus). Still in Alexandria, the riots fomented by some Christian factions result in the death of a renowned pagan female scientist named Hypatia (c.370-415), to whom the invention of the astrolabe and the hygrometer are attributed. The story of saint Catherine of Alexandria, who died as martyr approximately one century before Hypatia, presents some resemblance with that of Hypatia. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches venerate saint Catherine of Alexandria as a model of wisdom, intelligence, science and purity. Some scholars consider that these features date from the Middle Ages. It is indeed quite possible (and after all, in a way somewhat rejoicing) that Christians venerating saint Catherine today may also venerate Hypatia simultaneously without knowing it. Independently from the death of Hypatia, it seems that in general, the encounter between Christian faith and Alexandrian culture did not benefit significantly to science during the first centuries of the Christian era. The preceding encounter between Judaism and Greek science seemed open and promising, judging from the biblical book of Wisdom 7:15-21 (most probably written in Alexandria during the first century BC). Therefore, the scarcity of new scientific achievements at the beginning of the Christian era is somewhat disappointing. Maybe the greatest Christian minds of the fourth and fifth century were too busy dealing with urging fundamental theological and ecclesiological challenges. Among them, two prominent intellectual figures especially deserve the attention of historians. Saint Basil (330-379) writes in 364 the treatise For the Young, on How They Might Derive Profit from Hellenic Literature. In this treatise, Basil acknowledges the utility of pagan studies, and implicitly criticizes the repressive cultural policy of the late emperor Julian. Saint Augustine (354-430), in the treatise De Genesi ad litteram, distinguishes the truths discovered by philosophers and the Christian Revelation. He argues that the Holy Spirit did not wish to include in the Revelation truths unnecessary for our salvation. Saint Augustine is also famous for stating that God’s creation includes time. Therefore, creation itself cannot be reduced to a process described within time.

First Middle-Ages (ca. 500-1000)

Saint Isidore of Seville, Saint Bede, Rabanus Maurus

When the fallen Western Roman Empire enters into the Middle Ages, the former library of Carthage that comprised perhaps as many as 500000 manuscripts, the famous library of Alexandria that gathered maybe 700000 manuscripts, as well as the important libraries of Pergame and Athens, have ceased or will soon cease to exist. What is more, only a small part of Antiquity papyries has been copied into more resistant codexes. Even if this new period is intellectually less productive than others, Christian erudites do not stay idle. The rarity of books encourages scholars to gather knowledge in an encyclopedical way. At an unknown date, a certain priest Aaron of Alexandria whose precise religious obedience remains to be precised composes a kind of medical encyclopedia in thirty parts, the Pandect, known to us by its Arabic translation. Later, in Constantinople, at the capital of Greek culture, patriarch Photius (c.820-891), a politically somewhat ambiguous figure, composes a kind of encyclopedical work, the Myriobiblion. Let us also mention for its originality the story of the Byzantine medical doctor and monk Nikolaos, sent in 951 by the emperor Constantine VII to help the Hispano-Arab doctor Hasday Ibn Schaprut produce a new Arabic version of the Materia medica of Dioscorides, starting from a Greek codex offered by the Byzantine emperor. After this, Nikolaos teaches Greek at the court of Cordova.

The cultural control exerted by the emperors of Constantinople is certainly one of the causes of the relatively slow developments of Hellenistic culture during this period. At the oriental extremity of the Christian world, the knowledge of Antiquity escapes imperial control, and part of it is soon translated from Greek into Syriac by Christians whose patriarchates have been separated from Rome after the councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedoine (451). For instance, the priest Probus of Antioche (5th century), the monk Sergius Resh Aïna (?-536) whose translations deal with theology, medicine, physics and philosophy, the bishop of Kenneserin in Syria Severus Sebokht ( ?-667) and the bishop George of the Arabs ( ?,724) participate in this translation work. In Jerusalem, the melkite monk saint John of Damascene (676-749) is well versed in the sciences of Antiquity, notably in the astronomy of Ptolemaeus. Shortly after, the arising Arabic science knows how to make good use of Indian mathematics (numeration, trigonometry) and Greek knowledge (often received through Syriac translations in the beginning), and rapidly dominates the international stage. Several Christian translators, among whom the Nestorian priest Yusuf al Khuri (late 9th century.- beginning 10th century.) sometimes named Yusuf al Qass (Khuri and Qass all mean “priest”), contribute to the Arabic cultural development. At the other extremity of the Christian world, in the latin West, the rule of Saint Benedict, composed around 528, encourages monks to devote part of their daily activities to study. This allows them to preserve the part of the knowledge of Antiquity that still exists in the West, during a long “dark” period of political instabilities. The rule of saint Benedict also stipulates that all monasteries should have a kind of infirmary; this rule benefits to the transmission of herbal medicine traditions during many centuries. The Roman Cassiodorus (c.484-585) who retires as a monk at the end of his life is particularly concerned by the transmission of Hellenistic knowledge and orders the translation of many books from Greek to Latin. Between 575 and 725, saint Columban (530?-615) and Irish monks of Augustinian rule organize a net of about one hundred and fifty monasteries on the continent. These monasteries also become education centers open to all, including those who do not want to become monks. The highly erudite English monk saint Bede (673-735) and his compatriot Alcuin (735-804) who becomes abbot of Saint Martin of Tours at the end of his life after having directed Charlemagne’s Palace School in Aachen are prominent actors leading towards the brief “Carolingian Renaissance” during which the Church takes important cultural initiatives: in 789, a synod decides that each bishop must establish a school in his city; in 816, a council decides to organize the clergy in chapters and precises how each chapter must establish a school. During the same time, the Benedictine movement develops the medical school of Salerno (in the same region where the Greek philosopher Parmenides had already founded a medical school more than a thousand years before) that can be considered as the first embryo of a university in Western Europe. This medical school attracts learned men from several countries, including Jewish and Muslim scholars coming from Spain . In Salerno, medico-pharmaceutical knowledge is presented in Greek, Latin, Arabic and Italian. Among the western bishops, some distinguish themselves by their broad knowledge, in particular saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) who compiles encyclopedical knowledge in the four hundred and forty eight chapters of his Etymologiae, Raban Maurus (780-856) whose activity coincides with the best period of the Carolingian Renaissance and to whom we owe three volumes of Physica discussing diseases and medical treatments, and Gerbert d’Aurillac (c. 945-1004) who figures among the first in the West having adopted algebraic methods inherited from Arabic science, and who becomes pope Sylvester II in 999.

New Middle Ages (c. 1000-1400)

Saint Albert the Great, Roger Bacon

Oresme, Guy de Chauliac

Arabic science is flourishing at the beginning of the second millennium. It becomes even more creative and original, while continuing to value its Hellenistic sources. The on-going work of translation of Greek sources into Arabic is partly achieved by Jewish and Christian contributors, like the Jacobite bishop Gregory Bar Hebraus (1226-1286). Thanks to Arabic science, the West recovers many of the classical Greek texts it had lost, and assimilates progressively the new Arabic scientific innovations. Among the pioneers of the diffusion of Arabic knowledge in Latin figure the monks Hermann of Reichenau (1013-1054) and Constantinus Africanus (1015-1086). Constantinus Africanus, of Carthaginian origin, arrives at Salerno in 1065 after having acquired scientific books and knowledge during travels to the East, and converts to christianism in 1070. He then joins the monastery of Monte-Cassino where he devotes the rest of his life to translation. His Latin translations of Hippocras and Galen from Arabic restore the study of Greek medical science in Europe. Himself author of a Glossary of pharmaceutical herbs, he also translates into Latin the Kitab al-Itimad (On the reliability of simple medical drugs) of Ibn al-Djazzar under the title Liber de gradibus and, in collaboration with his pupil Johannes Afflacius or Saracenus, the Kitab al-Malaki of Haly Abbas under the title Liber Pantegni (All the art). In Toledo, the army of the Reconquista seizes a voluminous library. It is in this city that bishop Raimundo founds around 1140 a translation school where Jewish and Christian scholars collaborate. This translation school plays an instrumental role in what is sometimes called the 12th century Renaissance in Europe. Among the clerics working in Toledo can be found, for instance, Robert de Chester (archdeacon of Pamplona in 1143) who translates the algebra of Al Khwarizmi in 1145, the canon Marcos de Toledo (beginning of 13^th century) and Herman Aleman (who becomes bishop of Astorga in 1266). Openness to foreign knowledge also benefits to western technology as the West assimilates several Chinese inventions, without in fact being conscious of their origin. Meanwhile, Benedictine and Cistercian abbeys also play a major role in the technological and economical development of Europe. Many abbeys equip themselves with windmills whose axis is horizontally oriented. Cistercian abbeys develop a systematic use of the hydraulic energy available from rivers. A new European culture arises progressively. During the first half of the 12th century, the Description of diverse arts by the Benedictine priest Théophile (c.1070-1125) reveals the degree of technicity attained in monasteries, especially for stained-glass, pigments, dies and metallurgy techniques. The first European artesian well is drilled in 1126 by Cartusian monks in Artois (hence the name of this kind of wells). The abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1099-1179) describes more than three hundred different plants and mentions their German names (the rest of her text is composed in Latin). The period between 1175 and 1300 sees the birth of five large encyclopedias. Chronogically, the first of these is the De naturis rerum of the Benedictine abbot of Cirencester Alexander Neckam (1157-1217). The beginning of the 13rd century also coincides with the birth of two religious orders of an original, itinerant type, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, whose mobility is particularly well suited to the circulation of ideas between the universities founded during the same period. After the encyclopedia of Alexander Neckam, the three next largest encyclopedias are composed by Franciscans or Dominicans: the De naturis rerum, whose composition lasts from 1228 to 1244, is written by the Dominican Thomas de Cantimpré (1201-1272); the De proprietatibus rerum, composed between 1230 and 1250, is written by the Franciscan Bartholomeaus Anglicus (ca. 1190-1250), and the Speculum majus (dealing with theology, psychology, physiology, cosmography, physics, botany, zoology, mineralogy, agriculture), finished around 1257-1258, is written by the Dominican Vincent de Beauvais. The fifth large encyclopedia of the same period is the Compendium philosophiae, finished around 1300, whose author is unknown. Konrad von Megenberg (1309-1374) translates the encyclopedia of Thomas de Cantimpré in German; his edition includes original printed botanical illustrations. The Dominican colleague of Vincent de Beauvais saint Albert the Great (1200-1280) comments a large portion of the works of Aristotle devoted to natural sciences. He also records his personal observations in mineralogy and botany. Another Dominican, Dietrich of Freiberg (1250-1310) publishes in 1304 a theory of the rainbow based on experiments. The Polish Franciscan Witelo (1230-?) composes a treatise of optics and is also interested by the relationships between what is not yet called our subconscious with our intelligence. The Franciscan Roger Bacon (1214-1294), very much in advance of his times, distinguishes himself by, among other things, his understanding of optical phenomena. The Catalan Ramon Llull (1235-1316?), from the Franciscan third order, innovates in logic in a way that theologians of the end of the Middle Ages do not unanimously appreciate. The logical machine he conceives for achieving automatic demonstrations is considered by some as a kind of ancestor of modern computers, although the comparison may be far-fetched. The Franciscan William of Okham (c. 1285-1349) elaborates a “nominalist philosophy”, some aspects of which remain an important reference for contemporary research in epistemology. His student Jean Buridan (1300-1358), a secular cleric, conceives the notion of impetus, a mechanical quantity proportional to the speed and the mass of a moving object. Mathematically speaking, Buridan’s impetus is equivalent to the notion of inertia developed later by Galileo, although the philosophical frame within which Buridan conceives impetus remains strongly influenced by Aristotelian philosophy, from which Galileo will free himself. The dynamism of universities does not eclipse the sometimes surprising scientific achievements due to more traditional monastic orders, as exemplified by the work of Udo of Aachen (c.1200-1270) who is probably the first man having calculated a fractal. The (re)discovery of fractals is due to Benoît Mandelbrot in the 20th century! At the highest level of the hierarchy, the bishops Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253), Thomas Bradwardine (1295-1349) (prominent figure among the Mertonians of Oxford), Albert of Saxony (1316-1390), and Nicolas Oresme (1323-1382) precursor of the graphs theory developed later by Descartes, are all important intellectual figures. Another important bishop is the former Parisian condisciple of Roger Bacon Pedro Juliao Rebello, alias Petrus Hispanus (1213 or 1223 – 1277), probably born in Portugal . Petrus Hispanus composes in 1270 the Thesaurus pauperum (Treasure of the Poor), a book aiming at helping the poor take a better care of their health. Chapter eight of the Thesaurus Pauperum constitutes a kind of summa of the ophthalmologic knowledge of the times. Petrus Hispanus becomes the 187th pope in 1276 under the name John XXI. His reign lasts less than one year, as John XXI dies in 1277 from the collapse of the roof of his studyroom. Still in medicine, the doctor of Avignon popes Gui de Chauliac (1298-1368) publishes in 1363 his concise and precisely written treatise Chirurgica Magna. It is the first treatise that deals with all the medical and chirurgical knowledge of the 14th century. This work, translated in the languages of all main European languages and reedited many times until the 18th century, has long served as a reference in surgery and anatomy.

The Renaissance (c. 1400-1600) 

Nicolas of Cusa, Nicolas Copernic, Konrad Gesner, Giambattista Della Porta

Cultural development accelerates in Italy during the 15th century. Popes, through their interest towards architecture and all sorts of arts, encourage the Renaissance whose cultural achievements, more humanistic in character than directly scientific in the modern sense, are mainly attributable to laymen. During the Renaissance, secular temptations within the catholic hierarchy are particularly obvious. This period does not produce many great theologians. It does not produce many great scientists among the clergy either. Among them, however, some exceptional figures distinguish themselves. Cardinal Nicolas de Cusa (1401-1464), philosopher, theologian and diplomat, interests himself in astronomy. He is one of the very few since the Greek Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310-230 B.C.) and his follower Seleucus of Babylon to conjecture, before Copernicus, that the earth turns around the sun. Let us note that although Arabic science, generally speaking, was not interested or did not believe in heliocentrism, one exception exists: in Chinguetti, a city of Mauritania considered as the seventh holy city of Islam, the library Al Halott conserves a manuscript from the 14th century containing a diagram showing the planets of the solar system rotating around the sun. De Cusa is also the first to use convex lenses to correct myopia. The great Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), also a writer and cryptographer, receives minor orders (which allows him to qualify for ecclesiastical benefits); he is the author of the first scientific study of perspective (De pictura, 1435). The Franciscan Luca Pacioli (1445-1517) writes several didactic books in mathematics, among which a book dealing with Divine proportions illustrated by his friend Leonardo da Vinci. In France , the erudite humanist Charles de Bouvelles (1471-1553) introduces the mathematics of his time to French readers. The German Regiomontanus (1436-1476) is maybe the man thanks to whom mathematics progress most during the 15th century. The pope, hoping to benefit from his advice on the reform of the calendar, promises him the charge of bishop of Ratisbon in 1474. Regiomontanus accepts; unfortunately, his health does not withstand Rome’s climate and he dies in 1476 without having been ordained. The Polish Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) is canon of the cathedral of Frauenburg. Canons have the responsibility to organize and participate in canonical prayers at the cathedral. They are also usually close collaborators of their bishop, as is the case for Copernicus whose bishop is his uncle. In this limited sense, Copernicus is truly an “ecclesiastic” personality, although he has never been a priest, contrarily to what Galileo himself imagined later. The Benedictine abbot Franciscus Maurolicus (1494-1575) is the first to resort to induction reasoning in order to prove the value of a series (1+3+5..+(2n-1)=n²). In Germany, Otto Brunfels (c. 1488-1534), originally a catholic priest belonging to the Cartusian order, later converted to Lutheranism and having served as a pastor in Steinau during three years, is considered as one of the founders of German botany with the Lutheran pastor Hieronymus Bock (1498-1554), who is one of the first to classify plants along general categories in his book Kraeuterbuch (1539). Still in the Germanic zone, Georg Hartmann (1489-1564) (catholic) discovers the vertical component of earth’s magnetic field. William Turner (1508-1568), Anglican pastor suspended in 1664 because of his Calvinist tendencies, introduces the new botany, as well as ornithology, in England . In Mexico , the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagun (1499-1590) shows a deep interest for the Aztec language and culture. His science amounts essentially to what we call “anthropology” today, although this word does not yet exist in his time. Bernardino is the author of the Florentine Codex, a bilingual composition whose last part deals with animals, plants, metals of Mexico as well as with the way the Spanish conquest has been perceived by surviving local inhabitants. In Europe, the Italian anatomist Vidius Guidi (or Guido) (1509-1569) interests himself, among other things, in human bipedy. The Swiss Konrad Gesner (1516-1565), a protestant sympathetic to Zwingli, is considered as the main founder of modern zoology. He obtains in his last years (in 1558) the title of canon (“chorherr”) in Zurich. William Lee (c.1550-1610), an Anglican clergyman, invents the first knitting machine in the hope, or so it is said, to gain the favor of a young lady apparently more interested in her knitting work than in her admirer. Retrospectively, this machine can be considered as one of the first signs announcing the industrial revolution of the 19th century.

In the middle of the 16th century, Ignacius of Loyola and his six first companions found the order of the Jesuits. This foundation is a purely religious event, but it prepares new scientific developments. Very soon, some Jesuits distinguish themselves in secular sciences. The mathematician Christopher Clavius (1538-1612) is one of them. Clavius publishes several didactic books that serve as a reference for the scholars of his time. He is also the principal artisan of the calendar reform ordered by Gregory XIII, to which the Dominican astronomer and geographer Egnatio Danti (1536-1586) has also contributed. Another important and highly original figure of the same period is the Italian Giambattista della Porta (1535-1615). Author of a scientific bestseller, Natural Magics, Della Porta is also the founder of the Academy of Secrets in 1560 at Naples, an organization that prefigures the national Academies of Science in Europe. In 1585, Della Porta joins the Jesuits among whom he remains a “brother”, without being ordained as a priest. As a Jesuit, Della Porta continues his scientific activities and invests himself in charitable activities. Another Jesuit, the Spanish Jose de Acosta (1539-1600) comments many geophysical phenomena (geomagnetism, earthquakes, eruptions, tsunami, meteorology) typical of South America.

Around the end of the 16th century, Scipione Mercurio (1540?-1617), a medical doctor and author of a guide of obstetrics, becomes Dominican. Later, he abandons religious life, and then comes back to his religious commitments. Bernardino Baldi (1553-1617) progresses towards the discovery of the notion of center of gravity in his commentary of the pseudo-Aristotelian Questions of Mechanics.

During the Renaissance, Christian institutions, while contributing to scientific and artistic progress, are also, unfortunately, little resistant to intolerant and tragic deviations from the original Christian spirit. In France, the humanist Louis de Berquin (1529), followed by the publishers Antoine Augereau (1534) and Etienne Dolet (1546) are condemned to death because of their commitment in favor of the freedom of expression. The Spanish Miguel Serveto (1509-1553), the first European with Realdo Combo (1520-1560) (three centuries after the discoveries of Ibn al Nafis, a Muslim doctor living in Cairo) to describe blood circulation in the respiratory organs, is condemned to death by the Catholic Inquisition because of his religious views. After having escaped from his French prison, Serveto takes refuge in Geneva where he his again condemned to death, this time by Calvinists. Calvin himself supports the condemnation of Serveto who dies at the stake in 1553. 

Baroque Arts and Scientific Revolution (c. 1600-1750)

Benedetto Castelli, Francesco Grimaldi, Pierre Gassendi

Marin Mersenne, Ismaël Boulliau, John Wallis

Wilhelm Schickard, Stephen Hales, Blessed Niels Stensen

In 1600, Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) is condemned and burned in Rome because of his philosophical ideas, considered heretic by the Roman Inquisition. Bruno is an original philosopher whose scientific contribution proper is, at most, marginal. In 1619, the philosopher Lucilio Vanini (1585-1619) is burnt at the stake in Toulouse ( France ) because of his “atheism”. Another Dominican, whose philosophy bears some empiricist features, and who also practiced astrology, Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639), makes long stays in prison between 1592 and 1629. He is successively condemned to prison by the Inquisition, the civilian authorities of Naples, and again by the Inquisition. The dramatic beginning of the 17th century is also marked by the Thirty years war (1618-1648). In 1633, the Roman Inquisition organizes the trial of a scientist of wide reputation, Galileo. After his condemnation to house arrest (in spite of his renunciation to heliocentrism), Galileo composes a scientific treatise that establishes him has the main founder of modern mechanics and as the greatest scientist of his century with Newton. Few people dared to intervene in favour of Galileo, and the Jesuits in particular remained mostly silent. Among the Jesuits was the astronomer Horatio Grassi, an opponent of Galileo during the polemics that preceded his trial. Cardinal Bellarmino, who in 1616 forbade Galileo to present Copernican theory as a fact but allowed him to use it as a mathematical hypothesis, was also Jesuit. In fact, in 1633, nearly all the Jesuits seem to have sincerely believed that heliocentrism was wrong. Only a few Jesuits like Grimaldi, Riccioli, and later Honoré Fabri (1607-1688), seem to have been sympathetic towards the heliocentric hypothesis. Papal censorship on the heliocentric model lasts until 1757, when it is abolished thanks to the influence of the Jesuit Boscovich. During more than a century, (1616-1757), the Jesuits are submitted to the pope’s ban on Copernic’s theory, which does not prevent them from quickly imposing themselves as the best astronomers at the Chinese imperial court of Beijing. Simultaneously, the Jesuit Antoine Gaubil (1689, 1759), an excellent Sinologist, presents to Europeans some Chinese techniques in his Treatise of Chinese Astronomy. Apart from the heliocentric controversy, the Jesuit contribution to the progress of sciences in the 17th century remains impressive. The Jesuits correspond with most of the important scientists of their time. They publish specialized studies that can be read all over Europe. Such studies sometimes bear an encyclopedical character, like those of Jean Baptiste Riccioli (1598-1691). In mathematics alone, since the foundation of the Jesuits until their suppression in 1773, six hundred and thirty one Jesuits each publish at least one book of geometry. Among the best geometers can be found François d’Aguilon (1546-1617) whose optical treatise is illustrated by Rubens, Paul Guldin (1577-1643), Grégoire Saint-Vincent (1584-1667), André Taquet (1612-1660) and Claude de Challes (1621-1678). Christophe Scheiner (1575-1650), Jean Baptiste Cysat (1586-1657) and Nicolas Zucchi (1586-1670) excel in the fabrication of scientific instruments. They are among the first to make telescopes. Francis Line (1595-1654) demonstrates his talent as a horologer. Two fundamental discoveries in physics are also attributable to Jesuits during the same period: Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1613-1663) discovers in 1618 optical diffraction (with wave interference), which encourages the young Jesuit Ignace Pardies (1636-1673) to look for a wave-like description of refraction. Let us note that Grimaldi’s discovery was probably already partially made by the Persian physicist Alhazen, who initiated a particle-like description of light in the eleventh century. In 1629, Nicolo Cabeo (1585-1650) discovers electrostatic repulsion (so far, only electrostatic attraction was known). The conservatism of Jesuits in astronomy does not prevent them from being highly creative and imaginative in many other domains. The numerous publications of Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) are a good example; in spite of their frequent lack of rigor, they inspire the works of many scientists in the 17th century. Another example of highly creative work is that of Francesco Lana Terzi (1631-1687) who calculates how balloon sustentation can be possible. His work encourages, the practical attempts of Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685-1779) as well as the speculations of the Dominican Joseph Galien (1699-1762), and can be seen as a prelude to the success of the Montgolfier brothers. Other examples of the scientific creativity of the Jesuits are given by the construction of a small vehicle propelled by steam (this object, described in the magazine Astronomica Europea, is conceived as a toy for China ’s emperor) by Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688) in 1678, or by the research of Girolamo Saccheri (1667-1733) in non-Euclidian geometry.

In Italy , apart from the Jesuits, other clerics can also be ranked among the best intellectuals of their time, like Faustus Verantius (1551-1617), Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623), Redento Baranzano (1590-1622) and Giambattista Odierna (1597-1660). Verantius, bishop of Croatian origin, publishes in 1616 from Venice a book of new machines presenting new types of windmills, funiculars, bridges, and diverse hydraulic machines. Also in Venice, Sarpi, religious from the Servite order, writes to Galileo in 1609 about the Dutch discovery of optical lenses that allows Galileo to invent his own telescope. Baranzano, of the Barnabite order, teaches physics in Annecy in a way that shows his sympathy for the Copernican theory. His teachings are published in 1617, but Baranzano is constrained to add a preliminary introduction to his book denying heliocentrism as soon as 1618, due to Roman pressure. Thanks to the intervention of saint François of Sales, Baranzano is not sanctioned and continues to teach in Annecy. Odierna, from Sicilia, is an erudite, sometimes practicing astrology, who observes nebulae, the diffraction of light by a prism and makes zoological observations. To the names of Verantius, Sarpi, Baranzano and Odierna can be added the names of two Roman friends of Galileo : the Benedictine Benedetto Castelli (1578-1643) and Magiotti Raffaello (1597-1656). Castelli, estimated for his personal works in hydraulics, is also successful in training young scientists like the layman Torricelli, inventor of the mercury barometer. Torricelli’s invention stirs up new discussions in Europe about the properties of vacuum, since Aristotelian conceptions have clearly become obsolete on this subject. Emmanuel Maignan (1601-1676), from the Minim’s order, establishes experimentally the absence of sound propagation in vacuum. Castelli also contributes to the scientific formation of the Jesuate (to be distinguished from Jesuit) Bonaventura Cavalieri (1598-1647), a mathematician particularly esteemed by Galileo, and to the formation of Michelangelo Ricci (1619-1682) who becomes cardinal without being priest. Ricci publishes little himself, but corresponds with several European mathematicians, notably with the Belgian priest René de Sluze (1622-1685). Directly influenced by Cavalieri, the Jesuate Stefano degli Angeli (1623-1697) and the priest Pietro Mengoli (1626-1686) also perform some research in mathematics. The works of Mengoli, known by Wallis and Leibnitz, play some role in the history of the genesis of calculus. One generation after Mengoli, the works of the Camaldolese Luigi Guido Grandi (1671-1742) boost Italian mathematical research. Grandi participates in the first Florentine edition of Galileo’s works; he also conceives a steam engine.

In France , the abbott Nicolas de Peiresc (1580-1637), a rich patron interested in astronomy, anatomy and botany, supports a circle of erudites to whom the priest of humble social origin Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) belongs. Gassendi tries to insert the atomic theory inherited from the Greeks within a more modern philosophical frame of Christian inspiration. Gassendi and Peiresc are both soon convinced that Galileo’s ideas in astronomy are right. After Galileo’s condemnation, De Peiresc writes to Rome in favour of Galileo, unfortunately in vain. Apart from Peiresc, at least two other clerics play the role of “catalysts” in French science during the 17th century: Marin Mersenne (1588-1688) and Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715). Mersenne, from the Minims order, corresponds with many European scientists and sometimes helps them to publish their works. He composes himself, among other things, a treatise of acoustics and is the first after Gassendi to experimentally measure the velocity of sound. Among the participants of “Mersenne’s circle” figures Ismaël Boulliau (1605-1694), whose contribution during the period separating Galileo from Newton is probably the most significant in astronomy: Boulliau notes that if a gravitational strength is exerted by astronomical objects, such strength must decrease proportionally to the square of the distance. After Mersenne, Malebranche gathers a circle of erudites that becomes the most producive group of French mathematicians of the end of the 17th century. Malebranche is personally more talented in philosophy and optics than in mathematics, but he plays an important role in the diffusion of mathematical ideas inherited from Descartes. From 1663 to 1720, the writings of Descartes are more or less efficiently forbidden in France by the royal censorship, partly because of the hostility of Jesuits towards Cartesianism. One of the most eminent members of Malebranche’s circle is the mathematician Pierre Varignon (1654-1722) whose works are influential beyond his country. Apart from de Peiresc, Mersenne and Malebranche, several other clerics also contribute to the diffusion of scientific ideas in a rather original way: Jean-Baptiste Duhamel (1623-1706) becomes perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Paris in 1666. Jean Gallois (1632-1707) organizes from 1666 to 1674 the publication of the Journal des Sçavans, a kind of scientific pluridisciplinary review. The Jesuits Jacques Philippe Lallemant and Michel le Tellier found in 1701 the Journal de Trévoux (undertitled Memoranda for the history of Sciences and Arts) that serves as a kind of forum for the publication of the works of Jesuits and their friends until 1767. Noël Antoine Pluche (1688-1761) writes the Spectacle de la Nature, a kind of scientific European bestseller. As far as physics are concerned, other contributions of French clerics still deserve to be noted. Edme Mariotte (1620-1684) precises the conditions of application (constant temperature) of the law discovered by the Englishman Boyle for perfect gases. The Italian Paolo del Buono (1625-1659), from the Piarist order, member of the Florentine Academia del Cimento and inventor of several instruments, would probably have obtained the same result as Boyle and Mariotte if he could have realized the experimental program he considers in a letter addressed to his patron Leopold of Medicis. Boyle-Mariotte’s law marks one of the first steps towards the foundation of thermodynamics. Among French astronomers can be found the priest from Sarlat Jean Tarde (1561-1636) (sympathetic towards Copernic’s theory and author of a Theory of the Telescope), the Parisian Jean Picard (1620-1682) who promotes the foundation of the Observatory of Paris, his friend Gabriel Mouton (1618-1694) from Lyon, the obscure priest Charles Laurent Cassegrain (1629-1693) who invents a new kind of telescope that bears his name until today, Alexandre Guy Pingré (1711-1793) who goes to Haiti to observe a transit of Venus and to determine the distance earth-sun more accurately, and Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762) who performs a lot of measurements in the southern hemisphere for the Academy of Sciences of Paris. In technology, René Just Hautefeuille (1647-1724) invents a kind of spiral spring used in watches (the same invention is claimed by Hooke and, most legitimately it seems, by Huygens). Jean Truchet (1657-1729), who joins the Carmelites at the age of seventeen years old and who is best known as father Sébastien, invents new machines for textile industries. He also invents artificial hands and imagines, for the duke of Noailles who makes war in Catalogna, new cannons that can be transported more easily and that need less powder. The fact that a cleric may produce such an invention might seem surprising, but is not a fully isolated case in history, since the Jesuit Verbiest has also organized, in China , the fabrication of cannons for the Qing dynasty. Truchet also invents a machine for transporting big trees without hurting them.

In England , the Anglican Edmond Gunter (1581-1626) invents several measuring instruments, among which a kind of calculating ruler. Gunter is also the inventor of the word cosines (the word sines, a translation from Arabic, has been forged in Spain in the 12th century). Thanks notably to some previous measurements made by Gunter, the Calvinist Henry Gellibrand (1597-1636) discovers the secular shift of earth’s magnetic field. A brilliant mathematician, the Anglican John Wallis (1616-1703) contributes significantly to the birth of calculus. Wallis also invents the sign used to note infinity (¥). Wallis has been the student of the Episcopalian minister William Oughtred (1574-1660), to whom the cross used for noting multiplication (x) is due. Another Anglican priest, Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), plays some role in the birth of calculus, especially because of his direct influence on Newton. Barrow promotes Newton as his successor at the chair of mathematics of Cambridge in 1669. In 1660, the Royal Society is founded, six years before the Academy of Sciences of Paris. The principal founder and first secretary of the Royal Society is the future Anglican bishop of Chester John Wilkins (1614-1672). The Anglican John Flamsteed (1646-1719) excels in the fabrication of telescopes and navigation instruments. He records the coordinates of more than three thousand stars. The Presbyterian Thomas Bayes (1702-1761) formulates the theorem in probabilities that bears his name.

In Germany , the Lutheran Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635) invents in 1623 the first machine for arithmetic calculations, years before the brilliant mathematician Blaise Pascal (Pascal, also remembered for his thoughtful apology of the Christian faith, always remained a layman). The pastor Kaspar Neumann (1648-1715) is one of the German pioneers of statistical demography. Also in Germany , in Erfurt, the Benedictine monk Andrew Gordon (1712-1751), of Scottish origin, invents several electrostatic machines that prelude the development of electricity studies during the second half of the 18th century.

In Sweden , the bishop Erik Benzelius the young (1675-1743) founds the first scientific magazine of his country, Acta Literaria Suecia, published from 1720 to 1739.

In Poland , Jan Brozek (1585-1652) is considered by some as the best Polish mathematician of his time.

The Czech Anton Maria Schyrleus de Rheita (1597-1660), former Capucine monk having become diocesan priest, invents a prototype of binocular telescope, and the Capucine Chérubin d’Orléans (1613-1697) builds several such telescopes in France with success.

In Russia , the orthodox priest Léon Magnitzky (1669-1739) is the first to introduce the newest mathematical techniques in his country.

The European scientific revolution is accompanied by a huge development of life sciences as well. In Denmark , Gaspar Bartholin the Elder (1585-1629), protestant theologian and canon, writes a reference book in anatomy, where the function of the olfactive nerve is described for the first time. From the end of the 16th century until the suppression of their congregation in 1773, many Jesuits develop an interest for the flora and fauna of South America, about which they transmit precious information. Among them figure Bernabé Cobo, Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, Pedro Lozano, Nicolás del Techo, Martín Dobrizhoffer, Pedro Montenegro, Florián Paucke, Ramón Termeyer, Gaspar Juárez and Tomás Falkner. The Polish Jesuit Michael Boym publishes in 1656 a small Flora Sinensis that provides the first European description of Chinese plants and animals. Boym also translates a treatise of Chinese medicine. The pastor John Ray (1628-1705) plays a key role in the development of life sciences in Great Britain . He corresponds notably with his Anglican colleague John Banister (1650-1692) who has been sent in America by the bishop of London Henry Compton, himself also a botanist, to work as a pastor and also to explore the botany and entomology of Virginia. The Anglican William Derham (1657-1735) working in the footsteps of John Ray, is the first to note the existence of sibling species in 1718. His colleague Stephen Hales (1677-1761) is one of the founders of the study of plant’s functioning.

His colleague Stephen Hales (1677-1761) is one of the founders of the study of plant’s functioning. The Danish Niels Stensen (Nicolas Steno) (1638-1686), after having distinguished himself in anatomy, publishes a treatise of geology that makes of him one of the founders of this discipline. Having become catholic, and later missionary and bishop, Stensen is beatified in 1987. Charles Plumier (1646-1704), from the Minims, is encouraged in his botanical studies by the Italian Cistercian Paolo Baccone (1633-1707) who contributed to the adoption of the potato as a vegetable in Europe. Plumier participates in the exploration of the rich fauna and flora of the Antilles. Plumier’s illustrations are remarkably precise. He introduces the fuchsia, the magnolia and the begonia to Europeans. The colleague of Plumier Louis Feuillée (1660-1732), also a Minim, performs several measurements in astronomy and publishes a guide of the history of medicinal plants that presents about one hundred plants of Peru and Chile . The Jesuit George Joseph Camel (or Kamel) (1661-1706), in honor of whom the camellia flower gets its Latin name, describes the fauna and the flora of the Philippines . The Italian monk Bruno Tozzi (1656-1743) is especially interested in mushrooms, algae, lichens, and bryophytes. The Jesuit Pierre Nicolas le Chéron d’Incarville (1706-1757) observes the methods of Chinese botany. It is clear that the baroque period has not confined itself to the most abstract sciences, as can be illustrated further by the discovery of the fabrication of champagne by the monk of Italian origin Dom Pérignoni (?-1716). About fifty years later, the invention of soda is made by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), an American protestant pastor whose philosophy, not deprived of materialistic tendancies, is not very representative of Protestant’s world views as a whole. Priestley also isolates oxygen, which paves the way for the discoveries of Lavoisier.

The Industrial Revolution : Between Rationalism and Romantism, Faith and Positivism (c. 1750-1900)

Joseph Priestley, Jedlik Anyos, René-Just Haüy

Roger Boscovich, Angelo Secchi, Bernard Bolzano

Eugenio Barsanti, Thomas Malthus, Lazzaro Spallanzani

Gregor Mendel, Armand David

In the middle of the 18th century, new directions of research appear in physics, notably in electricity and magnetism. Among the authors of inventions in electricity figures Ewald Jurgen von Kleist, dean of the cathedral of Camin en Pomerania (c.1700-1748), who discovers a few months before the Dutch scientist Musschenbroek, in 1745, what is called nowadays a condenser. In 1746, the abbé Nollet (1700-1770) shows that electricity can serve as a very fast means of communication. For that purpose, he arranges that two hundred monks get connected with metallic wire along a distance of about one kilometer. He then electrocutes them all nearly simultaneously (fortunately, without killing them!). Apart from this rather surrealist episode, Nollet is also the first to imagine that electricity can be used for therapeutic purposes – although he fails to obtain convincing results. The Czech Prokop Divis (1658-1765), from the Premonstratensian order, builds in 1754 one of the first lightning rods, independently of Benjamin Franklin whose research on the same subject extends from 1750 to 1752. In spite of the efforts of figures like Franklin or Divis, the principle of the lightning rod (contested by Nollet) is not easily accepted by the European population. The Italians Giovanni Battista Beccaria (1716-1781), Giuseppe Toaldo (1719-1797) and the German Maximus von Imhof (1758-1817) contribute to its generalization. The physicist Carlo Barletti (1735-1800) encourages Volta in his researches on electricity. After Volta, a great scientist who also contributes to the comprehension of electrical phenomena is the layman and Franciscan tertiary André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836). The German pastor Christoph Bohnenberger (1732-1807) builds several electrostatic machines. His son Friedrich Bohnenberger (1765-1831), also a pastor, invents an electroscope and, in 1817, the first machine illustrating the gyroscopic effect. Francesco Zantedeschi (1797-1873) publishes in 1829 and 1830 two articles that anticipate the experiments of Faraday (taking place in 1831) by showing how an electric current can be produced by a mobile magnetic field. Zanteteschi is also the first to build a solar spectrometer. The Irish priest Nicholas Callan (1799-1864) discovers in 1836 the induction coil. The Hungarian monk Jedlik Anyos (1800-1895) invents the dynamo before 1861, several years before Siemens. Another new discipline, crystallography, develops from the works of René-Just Haüy (1743-1822) who leads a group of specialists among whom figure the clerics Tonnelier, Clouet and Tondi. René-Just Haüy has been a Jesuit, and then has left the Company without renouncing to the priesthood. He is also known to historians through his brother Valentin Haüy who founds an Institute for blind people. In Italy , the Ximeniano observatory of Florence diversifies its research under the leadership of the Piarist Giovanni Antonelli (1818-1871) and inaugurates its research in seismology with Filippo Cecchi (1822-1887). Other Italian seismology researchers are Timoteo Bertelli (1826-1905), Camillo Melzi d’Eril (1851-1929) and the volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli (1850-1910). The Italian Francesco Denza (1834-1894) specializes in meteorology. While all these new scientific disciplines progressively develop, some researches are also made within the most traditional branches of physics. Roger Boscovich (1711-1787), a Croatian Jesuit (of Serbian father and Italian mother) is one of the first scientists to promote the gravitational theory published by Newton in 1687. Among many other contributions (Boscovich is the author of about one hundred and fifty publications, half of these dealing with science), Boscovich proposes a concept of unified field theory describing the forces exerted on atoms (whose existence he also supposes). In 1773, the Company of the Jesuits is suppressed. It is reestablished in 1814. Meanwhile, scientific progress continues to accelerate and the number of scientists continues to increase worlwide, so that the most exceptional period of the participation of Jesuits in science seems to have ended in 1773, the last outstanding figure belonging to this first period being Boscovich. However, after 1814, Jesuits continue to participate in scientific research at the highest level, as many examples can show until today. Other clerical figures participating in the progress of the most traditional branches of physics during the same period as Boscovich or slightly after him include Charles Bossut (1730-1780), an expert of hydrodynamics. The Englishman Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) succeeds in measuring earth’s density in 1774. The Mexican Jose Antonio Alzate (1738-1799) sends several studies on astronomy and metallurgy to the Academy of Sciences of Paris. In Quebec, Joseph-Clovis Kemner-Laflamme (1849-1910) studies the geology of his province. In Italy , the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi (1746-1826) discovers Ceres, the largest asteroid our solar system (Ceres nearly qualifies as a planet). Other astronomers are Barnaba Oriani (1752-1833) and the Jesuit Angelo Secchi (1818-1878), one of the pioneers of spectroscopic astronomy and of star classification. His Jesuit colleague Johann Hagen (1847-1930) publishes in 1899 an Atlas stellarum variabilirum. Giovanni Boccardi (1859-1936) also performs researches in astronomy from the north of Italy .

In mathematics, the Italians Giovanni Fagnano (1715-1797), Lorenzo Mascheroni (1750-1800) and Francesco Faa di Bruno (1825-1888) participate in European research. Faa di Bruno devotes much energy to charitable activities, which reduces the time he allotts to scientific research. He is beatified in 1988. The Czech Bernard Bolzano (1781-1848) elucidates some aspects of the notion of infinity and elaborates with Weierstrass the theorem that bears their name. Georges Salmon (1819-1904), known for his works in algebraic geometry, is minister of the Irish Church (protestant). The Russian Ivan Pervushin (1827-1900) (orthodox) contributes to number’s theory.

Scientific progress is accompanied by technological development, to which clerics also participate. The Jesuit musician Jean Benjamin François de la Borde (1711-1794) invents in 1759 a kind of electrical harpsichord. The Anglican Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) invents a mechanical weaving machine between 1785 and 1787. William Gregor (1761-1817), also Anglican, discovers titanium in 1791. Le Belgian catholic canon Jean-Jacques Dony (1759-1819) (Dony is a canon without being priest) invents a technique for the production of zinc between 1805 and 1810. The Scottish clergyman Alexander Forsyth (1769-1843) invents the percussion mechanism for firearms. The Italian Giuseppe Zamboni (1776-1846) invents in 1812 the first dry battery, whose voltage can reach 2000V and whose discharge is so small that he thinks he has discovered a source of perpetual energy. In 1816, the cleric from the Scottish Church Robert Stirling (1790-1878) invents the very efficient kind of steam engine that bears his name. In 1820, the Anglican William Cecil (1792-1882) invents a new model of hydrogen engine (the invention of the hydrogen engine is due to the Swiss François Isaac de Rivaz in 1807). In 1827, the Scottish Patrick Bell (1799-1869) invents the first reaping machine. The German (catholic) Lorentz Hengler (1806-1858) invents in 1832 the horizontal pendulum. Joseph Bancroft Reade (1801-1870) discovers the use of gallic acid in photography, and the Slovene Janez Puhar (1814-1864) invents in 1842 photography on glass. François Moigno (1804-1884), a Jesuit priest who leaves his order in 1843 without renouncing to his commitment as a priest, founds in 1852 the popular scientific review Cosmos that becomes in 1862 the Revue des Mondes. This magazine presents to francophone readers many inventions coming from Europe and the United States . In 1854, the Italian Piarist Eugenio Barsanti (1821-1864) invents with the engineer Felice Matteuci the internal combustion engine. Giovanni Caselli (1815-1891) invents in 1864 the pantelegraph, a kind of ancestor of our fax (the first ancestor of fax machines has been invented by Alexander Bain approximatively thirty years before Caselli). In 1865, the Jesuits found in Manila a Meteorological Institute that develops the first techniques for predicting the arrival of typhoons. The names of Frederic Faura and José Algué are particularly attached to this work that saves many lives, especially among Philippine sailors. In 1872, the Anglican Ramus invents the stepped hull, a kind of design that improves the hydrodynamics of high-speed boats. In 1895, the Cistercian monk Marcel Audiffren invents an ancestor of our refrigerators. His machine is commercialized in the Unites States by General Electric between 1911 and 1928.

In a wholly different domain, the Anglican clergyman Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), famous for his demographical studies, is also the first professor to teach economy in a British university (and possibly in the world). Again in Great Britain , William Whewell (1794-1866) is a prominent philosopher of sciences.

During the years 1750-1900, life sciences are also booming. One key achievement of this period is due to Charles Darwin (1809-1882) who publishes in 1859 On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, significantly influenced by the ideas of Malthus. Among the professors of the young Darwin figures the geologist and botanist John Henslow (1796-1861). Darwin himself had considered the possibility of becoming a cleric when he was a student, although he would become inclined towards atheism during his last years. Just for the sake of the anecdote, one of Charles Darwin’s cousins, William Darwin Fox (1805-1880), was an Anglican priest, perhaps more enthusiastic about his collection of dinosaur’s fossils that about pastoral work. The Catholic Magisterium remained hermetic to Charles Darwin’s theory during nearly one century after its publication. The Catholic Church is now quite open to evolutionist ideas. Many Protestant Churches are in the same situation, although the creationist movement encouraged by some American protestant Churches remains opposed to Darwin’s theory at the beginning of the 21^st century. Even before Darwin, the French scientist Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) had already formulated some interesting but widely ignored hypotheses concerning the evolution of species. To a much lesser degree, the work of the Chilean Jesuit Juan Molina (1740-1829), a botanist who was particularly attentive to the unity of the living world, might possibly have served as a first step towards Darwin’s theory if it had received better attention from catholics themselves. After the publication of Darwin’s theory, a few clerical scientists tried to encourage religious authorities and/or the general public to accept it, like the Anlican specialist of amphipods Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing (1835-1926), the American religious of the Holy Cross John Augustine Zahn (1851-1921) and Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). Contemporary of Darwin, the other great scientist whose contribution dominates the 19th century in life sciences is the layman Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). Pasteur was a tertiary of the Franciscan order. Still in life sciences, the period 1750-1900 is marked by the contributions of many clerics. The Italian Giovanni Antonio Battara (1714-1789) studies mycology. The Lutheran bishop Johan Ernst Gunnerus (1718-1773) studies Norwegian flora. The Englishman Gilbert White (1720-1793) is particularly interested in the study of living organisms, and is sometimes considered as England ’s first “ecologist”. The Jesuit Francisco Cetti (1726-1778) studies the fauna of Sardinia. His colleague Pierre Martial Cibot (1727-1784) describes some Chinese arboricultural techniques. Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen (1728-1805), also Jesuit, makes many botanical discoveries, notably in the Alps. Fulgenzio Vitman (1728-1806) founds the botanical garden of Brera in Milan. The Italian priest Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799), whose experimental methods are much more rigorous than those of his predecessors, proves the inexistence of spontaneous generation of living organisms (a popular concept at that time). Spallanzani also performs the first experiences of artificial fecundation among animals and the first successful experiments of organ transplantation in the history of biology. The canon José Celestino Mutis (1732-1808) collects Colombian plants and founds the botanical garden of Bogota. John Lightfoot (1735-1788) contributes to the taxonomy of shells. The Italian Ambrogio Soldani (1736-1808) studies microfossils. Antonio José de Cavanilles (1745-1805) succeeds to his rival cardinal Casimiro Gomez de Ortega (1740-1818) at the direction of the botanical garden of Madrid in 1801. Both men are among the most prominent and active Spanish taxonomists of the 18th century, and they classify many hitherto unknown species sent to Madrid from many countries, notably from Mexico and Oceania. Cavanilles is also one of the precursors of the idea of “sustainable development” that has now become very popular in ecology. The French François Rozier (1734-1793) publishes several studies on agronomy. The Jesuit Franz Paula von Schrank (1747-1835) publishes a considerable amount of work and directs the newly founded botanical garden in Munich. The pastor Christian Konrad Sprengel (1750-1816) demonstrates the role of insects in plant fertilization. Pierre Joseph Bonaterre (1752-1804) discovers twenty-five species of fish. Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833) strongly contributes to the development of entomology. The Danish pastor Hans Christian Lyngbye (1782-1837) studies algae, as well as the Swedish bishop Carl Adolph Agardh (1785-1859). Franz von Paula Hladnik (1773-1844) discovers new botanical species in Carniola ( Slovenia ). The Carmelite brother Leandro de Sacramento (1778-1829) is the first director of the botanical garden of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1824, and fosters the scientific vocation of this garden. Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga (1798–1825) describes birds from Uruguay . The Lutheran Lars Levi Laestadius (1800-1861) studies Swedish and Finnish botany (in Samiland). The Norwegian Michael Sars (1805-1869) studies fish. Johann Dzierzon (1811-1906), from Silesia (today in Poland), discovers bee’s parthenogenesis and the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), whose works are fully appreciated only after his death, lays the foundations of genetics. The Italian Francesco Castracane degli Antelminelli (1817-1899) is one of the pioneers of the combined use of microscopes and photography. He discovers three new genders and more than two hundred botanical species. The Belgian Jean-Baptiste Carnoy (1836-1899) founds in Leuven a laboratory of cell research. Léon Provancher (1820-1892) studies the biological richness (plants, insects, molluscs) of Quebec. His compatriot Louis-Ovide Brunet (1826-1876) is also an important pioneer of Canadian botany. The Hungarian archbishop Lajos Haynald (1816-1891) patronizes arts and sciences. He is himself a botanist, and his collection comprises approximatively one hundred thousand samples. The Austrian Franciscan Vinzenz Gredler (1823-1912) studies the fauna of Tyrol. Le Lazarist Armand David (1826-1900) travels all around China searching for new animal and vegetal species, which enables him to “discover” the panda. His example is followed in botany by several priests of the Foreign Missions of Paris working in South-west China , Jean-Marie Delavay (1834-1895), Guillaume Farges (1844-1912) and Jean-André Soulié (1858-1905), through whom many rhododendron species are introduced in Europe. Also from the Foreign Missions of Paris, the linguist and ethnologist Léopold Cadiere (1869-1955), based in Vietnam , founds a botanical garden in Cua Tung. The Anglican Alfred Norman (1831-1918) collects marine fauna from the seas surrounding Great Britain . His compatriot William Colenso (1811-1899), a protestant bishop, discovers several new botanical species in New Zealand . The Episcopalian priest Moses Ashley Curtis (1808-1872) becomes arguably the best American expert of mycology of his time. His catholic compatriot Auguste Langlois (1832-1900) studies the flora and notably the mycology of Louisiana. The Italian Giacomo Bresadola (1847-1929) is also a specialist of mycology. Thomas Bonney (1833-1923) studies the geology of the Alps and of Great Britain . The Catholics John Woods (1832-1889) and Benedetto Schortechini (1845-1886) study the biology of Australia . The Jesuit Ernst (Ernesto) João Schmitz (1845-1922) does the same in Madera. Hermann Landois (1835-1905), zoologist, founds the zoo of Munster. In 1892, in Algeria , the Spiritan missionary Clément Rodier (1829-1904) invents what becomes named as the clementine, a kind of mandarin without pips.

The Twentieth Century

Landell de Moura, Pavel Florensky, Georges Lemaître, Julius Nieuwland,

Teilhard de Chardin, Théodore Monod, Hilary Ross

In mathematics/physics, the Anglican Alfred Young (1873-1940) contributes to develop group theory in Great Britain. Nicola Amici (1865-1944), a physics professor who counts Enrico Fermi among his students publishes some studies in relativity. The Russian theologian, mathematician and engineer Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky (1882-1937) composes, among many other things, a large monograph on dielectricity and a study of Einstein’s relativity. Florensky is condemned to ten years in Labor Camps in 1933 precisely for having published a book on relativity; he is finally executed by Staline’s regime in 1937. He is now considered as a martyr/saint of the Orthodox Church/Russian Orthodox Church. The Belgian catholic priest Georges Lemaître (1894-1966) develops from the equations of general relativity of Einstein a model of expanding universe. By derision, the physicist Fred Hoyle calls “big bang” the beginning of the story of the universe in Lemaitre’s model. In fact, what Lemaître originally imagines is a kind of rather cold big bang, not a very hot big bang, but apart from this point, Lemaitre’s theory has been basically accepted by now. One of the mathematical studies of Lemaître also paves the way for the study of black holes (whose name did not exist in Lemaître ‘s time). George Temple (1901-1992) is interested in mathematics and general relativity in the same period as Lemaître. He becomes a monk and catholic priest at the end of his life in the Isle of Wight. Starting from 1911, the American Jesuit Frederick Odenbach (1857-1933) organizes the installation of seismic detection stations in the United States . This program is stopped in 1922 due to lack of enthusiasm among participants. The same program is started again in 1925 thanks to the dynamism of the Jesuit James Macelwane (1883-1956). In 1962, nine of the seismic stations originally created by the Jesuits are selected to become part of the World Wide Standard Network. In Italy , the Piarist Guido Alfani (1876-1940) also specializes in seismology. In 1928, the Italian Bernardo Paoloni (1881-1944), on of the pioneers of radiometeorology, founds the Radioatmospheric Italian Institute. Jesus Emilio Ramirez Gonzalez (1904-1981) founds with Augustin Sarasola the Andian Geophysical Institute in Colombia . The Colombian Carlos Eduardo Acosta Arteaga (1919-2001) and the British James Skehan (1923-) are specialists in plate tectonics. Henri Fontaine, from the Foreign Missions of Paris, contributes to the study of Southeast Asia geology. The Jesuit Pierre-Noël Mayaud distinguishes himself in geophysical studies, and then works in the history and philosophy of sciences. John Polkinghorne (1924-), a student of Dirac, teaches mathematical physics, and then becomes Anglican theologian. Gianfranco Basti (1954-) is a specialist of neuron webs and artificial intelligence. The French diocesan priest Thierry Magnin works at the head of a laboratory of solid-state physics. The Jesuit Timothy E. Toohig (1928-2001) participates in particle physics research at the Fermilab, while a dozen of his Jesuit colleagues work in astronomy for the Vatican ’s Observatory. This Observatory, whose development has benefited from the actions of cardinal Pietro Maffi (1858-1931) and the Jesuit Johann Stein (1871-1951), is presently directed by George Coyne (1933- ). In France , a few priests belonging to the Mission de France such as the physicist Guy Trambly also work as science researchers.

As far as scientific inventions are concerned, the beginning of the 20th century coincides with the invention of the radio. The Brazilian Jesuit Landell de Moura (1861-1928) and independently the priest Joseph Murgas (1864-1929) both precede Marconi in this discovery. In 1902, Casimir Zenglen, a catholic priest deeply affected by the assassination of Chicago’s mayor in 1893, invents a light bulletproof vest made out of woven silk, whose efficiency he demonstrates by… wearing the vest and letting himself be fired at! In 1904, the Austrian August Musger (1868-1929) invents a slow motion camera. In the same year, Luigi Cerebotani (1847-1928) invents another type of fax quite different from that of Barsanti. Auguste Jean-Baptiste Tauleigne (1870-1926) invents in 1913 the radiotelegram (a receptor of wireless telegraphy) that allows him to receive signals emitted from the Eiffel tower at a distance of 150km. “Tauleigne relay stations” are then built in many places of France. During the war 1914/1918, Tauleigne serves in a military hospital and invents a X-ray “radiostereometer” enabling him to determine precisely the position of metallic fragments inside the body of wounded soldiers. Paul Cayère (1892-1967) holds several patents (indirect action speed regulator, centrifugal force tachymeter, pneumatic servo-micrometer, etc.) The catholic priest Gregory Keller invents a machine for producing candy in industrial quantities…

In chemistry, the religious of the Holy Cross Julius Nieuwland (1878-1936) discovers synthetic rubber in 1923. In Canada , in 1956, Ken Cashion, a newly ordained student, measures under the direction of John Polanyi the luminescence of a chemical reaction (synthesis of HCl), a phenomenon for whose interpretation Polanyi gets the Nobel Prize of chemistry.

In life sciences, Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) discovers in 1929 with a team of Chinese researchers and with the French priest specialist of prehistory Henri Breuil (1877-1961) the rests of the Beijing man, a kind of homo erectus. The Jesuit Emile Licent, founder of the Natural History Museum of Tianjin, has also strongly contributed to this discovery. In 1940, Teilhard founds with the Jesuit and biologist Pierre Leroy the Geobiological Institute of Beijing. Amédée Lemozi (1882-1970) discovers grottoes and prehistorical paintings in the region of Rocamadour (France). The German anthropologist from the Divine Word Missionaries Wilhelm Koppers (1886-1961), student of the anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt (1868-1954), studies the cultural development of societies.

The Jesuit brother Justin Gillet (1866-1943) founds in 1900 the botanical garden of Kisantu (Zaïre) that some consider as the most beautiful of Central Africa. Hippolyte Coste (1858-1924) publishes between 1900 and 1906 the voluminous La Flore de France, a book inspired by anglo-saxon models. Hubert Bourdot (1861-1937) collects thousands of different mushroom specimens. The Australian catholic bishop Joseph Wilfrid Dwyer (1869-1939) collects botanical species of New South Wales. Joseph Sylvestre Sauget (frère Léon) (1871-1955) studies the botany of Cuba . Miguel Domingo Fuertes (1871-1926) does the same in the Dominican Republic . In 1935, brother Marie-Victorin Kirouac (1892-1987) publishes La flore Laurentine, a book of botany presenting many endemic species of Quebec, illustrated by Alexandre Blouin (1892-1987). Brother Marie-Victorin is also the founder of the botanical garden of Montreal, presently one of the world’s largests botanical gardens. Enrique Perez Arbelaez (1896-1972) and Lorenzo Uribe Eribe (1900-1980) study the vegetation of Colombia . Ernest Lepage (1905-1981) and Arthème-Antoine Dutilly (1896--1973) explore the botanical diversity of arctic regions from Alaska to Labrador. The Benedictine monk Adam Kherle (1898-1996) becomes one of the world’s experts in bee’s genetic selection. Two Benedictine sisters from Kansas, sister Anthony Payne (1898-1951) and sister Aelred Pottinger (1908-1993) publish some studies in biology. At the end of the 20th century, many congregations of sisters of North America, such as The Sisters of St Martha, the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of St Ann, the Loretto Sisters, the Sisters of Service, the various congregations of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Providence and the School Sisters of Notre Dame, try to respond to the concrete impact of ecological devastation in their own geographical regions by various means, including the promotion of ecological science. For instance, the Sisters of Saint Ann collaborate with the Sisters of Charity in Halifax for the development of a “not-for-profit” ecological learning centre and and organic farm in British Columbia. Théodore Monod (1902-2000), a protestant pastor, explores Sahara’s fauna and flora. Basile Luyet (1897-1974), a missionary of saint François de Sales, studies cryobiology. Gustaff Hulstaert (1900-1990), from the Sacred Heart congregation, works as a naturalist in Congo . Antonio Olivarez Celiz studies ornithology in Columbia, and Robert Pinchon (1913-1980) does the same in the Antilles. Raulino Reitz (1919-1990) finds 327 new botanical species in Brazil . The Indian taxonomist K.M. Matthew (1930-2004), who discovers four new botanical species, is also the founder of the Rapinat Herbarium and of the Anglade Institute of Natural History (province of Tamil Nadu) that contribute to the preservation of South India’s biodiversity. Arthur Peacocke (1924-), an Anglican biochemist, priest and canon, is a well-known figure of the dialogue between science and theology at the end of the twentieth century. The Jesuit Victor Jaccarini (1931- ) works in Africa on marine biology issues.

In medicine, the Franciscan Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959) performs some research in psychology and neurophysiology. Sister Marie-Suzanne Novial (1889-1957), from the Société de Marie de Saint Maur, and even more notably sister Hilary Ross (1893-), an American member of the Daughters of Charity, strongly contribute to the progresses made in the fight against leper (Hansen’s disease) by their laboratory experiments. The Polish missionary Waclaw Szuniewicz (1892-1963) works as an ophthalmologist and a surgeon in China until 1949. He then performs some research on astigmatism in Yale University, then in Brazil . The Australian priest Franck Flynn (1906-1996) works as an ophthalmologist for the aboriginal Australian community, and invents a device protecting eyes from dehydratation. Philippe De