Pilgrim Path

Journeying Toward the Heavenly City

Scientists who are Pilgrims

The following are followers of Jesus. While there are obviously people of many different religious faiths and life philosophies in these academic fields, this listing seeks to point out that there are intelligent, well respected Christians in all of these fields.

 

  1. Physicists
    • Dr. John Polkinghorne received his Ph. D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge. Then he received a postdoctoral Harkness Fellowship with the California Institute of Technology, where he worked with Murray Gell-Mann. He was Professor of Mathematical Physics, University of Cambridge (1968-1979) and later President of Queens College, Cambridge (1988-1996). He received the Templeton Prize in 2002.
    • Darren Craig, Department Chair, Associate Professor of Physics, Wheaton College, Ill.; University of Wisconsin-Madison , Ph. D., Physics, 1998; Michigan State University , B. S., Physics, with high honor 1994. Dr. Craig is an experimental plasma physicist who has co-authored 73 journal articles.
    • Stephen M. Barr received his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University. He also went on to do research at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and the Univ. of Washington, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is a Professor in the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware, where he is also Director of the Bartol Research Institute. He is the author of the book, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, published by the Univ. of Notre Dame Press. This strong defense of biblical faith gives a clear explanation of why materialism is no longer a viable belief system, and belief in God is more consistent with scientific discoveries of the last 100 years including Quantum theory.
  2. Astronomers and Cosmologists –
    • Owen Gingrich – Professor of Astronomy and the History of Science, Emeritus, Harvard University at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
    • Hugh Ross, received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Toronto and did postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.Sc. in Physics from the University of British Columbia. He is the founder and director of the organization, Reasons to Believe (www.reasonstobelieve.org). Some of his positions are debatable, perhaps controversial.
  3. Chemists
    • Robert Fay, Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, Cornell University. . Robert C. Fay has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and the University of Bologna, an NSF Science Faculty Fellow at the University of East Anglia and the University of Sussex, and a NATO/Heineman Senior Fellow at Oxford University. His interests include the history of Christianity and its connections to science. See his article, Science and Christian Faith: Conflict or Cooperation?
    • Mark Niemczyk, Professor of Organic Chemistry, Wheaton College, Ill.; Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, Columbia University; B.S. Chemistry, University of Buffalo. He has done research at Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University.

 

  1. Biologists and the Life Sciences
    • Jovanka Koo, Associate Professor of Biology, Wheaton College, Ill.; A., Biology (High Honors), Swarthmore College, 1997; Ph.D., Microbiology, University of Washington, 2004; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Weill Cornell Medical College, Microbiology and Immunology; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Northwestern University, Microbiology-Immunology
    • Jennifer Busch, Department Chair, Associate Professor of Biology, Wheaton College, Ill.; Ph.D. Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, 2003.
    • Gregory S. Keller, Associate Professor of Conservation Biology Department Chair, Gordon College. B.S. Alma College; M.A. The College of William and Mary; Ph.D. in Ecology with Conservation Biology Emphasis, The Pennsylvania State University.
    • Dorothy F. Boorse, Professor of Biology, Gordon College. B.S.Gordon College; M.S. Cornell University; Ph.D. University of Wisconsin–Madison.
  1. Earth Scientists
    • Stephen Moshier – Ph.D. from LSU; Chairman of the Department of Geology and Environmental Science at Wheaton College, Ill.; formerly professor at University of Kentucky.
    • Gregg Davidson is a Professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi and conducts original research in geochemistry and hydrogeology, often employing radiometric dating methods to determine the age of groundwater and sediments. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Arizona, and his BS from Wheaton College in Illinois.