Scientists

(Catholic)

Introduction

SCIENTISTS HAVE ALWAYS SOUGHT KNOWLEDGE

FROM THEIR OBSERVATION OF STUDY

​

Do we really need proof that God exists.

If so, for some people, "Oh ye, of little faith", then science is the proof. Yes, science proves the existence of God.

Science has always pointed to God and science proves the existence of God.

Scientists through the ages have wisely sought out knowledge from painstakingly systematized observation and study. And where does all this knowledge come from? It comes from God. "Because the Lord giveth wisdom and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge." PRV 2:6 

​

Many scientific discoveries have been made by Catholic scientists to benefit man and society.

List of lay Catholic Scientists

Catholic Scientists

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799) – mathematician who wrote on differential and integral calculus

• Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) – father of mineralogy[5]

• Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915) – credited with identifying the first published case of presenile dementia, which is now known as Alzheimer's disease[6]

• André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) – one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism

• Leopold Auenbrugger (1722–1809) – first to use percussion as a diagnostic technique in medicine

• Adrien Auzout (1622–1691) – astronomer who contributed to the development of the telescopic micrometer

• Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856) – Italian scientist noted for contributions to molecular theory and Avogadro's Law[7]

• Francisco J. Ayala (1934–) – Spanish-American biologist and philosopher at the University of California, Irvine[8][9]

• Jacques Babinet (1794–1872) – French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer who is best known for his contributions to optics [10]

• Stephen M. Barr (1953–) – professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware and a member of its Bartol Research Institute

• Joachim Barrande (1799–1883) – French geologist and paleontologist who studied fossils from the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Bohemia [11]

• Laura Bassi (1711–1778) – physicist at the University of Bologna and Chair in experimental physics at the Bologna Institute of Sciences, the first woman to be offered a professorship at a European university

• Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878) – pioneer in the study of electric and luminescent phenomena

• Henri Becquerel (1852–1908) – awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his co-discovery of radioactivity

• Carlo Beenakker (1960–) – professor at Leiden University and leader of the university's mesoscopic physics group, established in 1992.

• Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823) – prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities[12]

• Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1809–1894) – Belgian zoologist and paleontologist who established one of the world's first marine laboratories and aquariums[13]

• Claude Bernard (1813–1878) – physiologist who helped to apply scientific methodology to medicine

• Jacques Philippe Marie Binet (1786–1856) – mathematician known for Binet's formula and his contributions to number theory

• Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774–1862) – physicist who established the reality of meteorites and studied polarization of light

• John Birmingham (astronomer) (1816–1884) – Irish astronomer who discovered the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis and revised and extended Schjellerup's Catalogue of Red Stars.[14]

• Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (1777–1850) – zoologist and anatomist who coined the term paleontology and described several new species of reptiles[15]

• Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608–1679) – often referred to as the father of modern biomechanics

• Raoul Bott (1923–2005) – mathematician known for numerous basic contributions to geometry in its broad sense[16][17]

• Marcella Boveri (1863–1950) – biologist and first woman to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Theodor Boveri (1862–1915) – first to hypothesize the celluar processes that cause cancer

• Louis Braille (1809–1852) – inventor of the Braille reading and writing system

• Edouard Branly (1844–1940) – inventor and physicist known for his involvement in wireless telegraphy and his invention of the Branly coherer

• James Britten (1846–1924) – botanist, member of the Catholic Truth Society and Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great[18]

• Hermann Brück (1905–2000) – Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1957–1975; honored by Pope John Paul II

• Albert Brudzewski (c. 1445–c.1497) – first to state that the Moon moves in an ellipse

• Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788) – one of the pioneers of natural history, especially through his monumental Histoire Naturelle

• Nicola Cabibbo (1935–2010) – Italian physicist, discoverer of the universality of weak interactions (Cabibbo angle), President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1993 until his death

• Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) – awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for pioneering vascular suturing techniques

• John Casey (mathematician) (1820–1891) – Irish geometer known for Casey's theorem

• Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625–1712) – first to observe four of Saturn's moons and the co-discoverer of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter

• Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857) – mathematician who was an early pioneer in analysis

• Andrea Cesalpino (c.1525–1603) – botanist who also theorized on the circulation of blood

• Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832) – published the first translation of the Rosetta Stone

• Michel Chasles (1793–1880) – mathematician who elaborated on the theory of modern projective geometry and was awarded the Copley Medal

• Guy de Chauliac (c.1300–1368) – most eminent surgeon of the Middle Ages

• Chien-jen Chen (1951–) – Taiwanese epidemiologist researching hepatitis B, liver cancer risk of people with hepatitis B, link of arsenic to blackfoot disease [zh], etc.[19]

• Albert Claude (1899–1983) – awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contributions to cytology

• Mateo Realdo Colombo (1516–1559) – discovered the pulmonary circuit,[20] which paved the way for Harvey's discovery of circulation

• Arthur W. Conway (1876–1950) – remembered for his application of biquaternion algebra to the special theory of relativity

• E. J. Conway (1894–1968) – Irish biochemist known for works pertaining to electrolyte physiology and analytical chemistry[21]

• Carl Ferdinand Cori (1896–1984) – shared the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with his wife for their discovery of the Cori cycle

• Gerty Cori (1896–1957) – biochemist who was the first American woman win a Nobel Prize in science (1947)[22]

• Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis (1792–1843) – formulated laws regarding rotating systems, which later became known as the Corialis effect

• Domenico Cotugno (1736–1822) – Italian anatomist who discovered the nasopalatine nerve, demonstrated the existence of the labyrinthine fluid, and formulated a theory of resonance and hearing, among other important contributions

• Maurice Couette (1858–1943) – best known for his contributions to rheology and the theory of fluid flow; appointed a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Pius XI in 1925[23]

• Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736–1806) – physicist known for developing Coulomb's law

• Clyde Cowan (1919–1974) – co-discoverer of the neutrino

• Jean Cruveilhier (1791–1874) – made important contributions to the study of the nervous system and was the first to describe the lesions associated with multiple sclerosis; originally planned to enter the priesthood

• Endre Czeizel (1935–2015) – Discovered that folic acid prevents or reduces the formation of more serious developmental disorders, such as neural tube defects like spina bifida

• Gabriel Auguste Daubrée (1814–1896) – pioneer in the application of experimental methods to the study of diverse geologic phenomena[24]

• Charles Enrique Dent (1911–1976) – British biochemist who defined new amino-acid diseases such as various forms of Fanconi syndrome, Hartnup disease, argininosuccinic aciduria and homocystinuria[25]

• René Descartes (1596–1650) – father of modern philosophy and analytic geometry

• César-Mansuète Despretz (1791–1863) – chemist and physicist who investigated latent heat, the elasticity of vapors, the compressibility of liquids, and the density of gases[26]

• Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (1805–1859) – mathematician who contributed to number theory and was one of the first to give the modern formal definition of a function

• Ignacy Domeyko (1802–1889) – Polish scientist who made major contributions to the study of Chile's geography, geology, and mineralogy

• Christian Doppler (1803–1853) – Austrian physicist and mathematician who enunciated the Doppler effect

• Pierre Duhem (1861–1916) – historian of science who made important contributions to hydrodynamics, elasticity, and thermodynamics

• Félix Dujardin (1801–1860) – biologist remembered for his research on protozoans and other invertebrates; became a devout Catholic later in life and was known to read The Imitation of Christ[27]

• Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1800–1884) – chemist who established new values for the atomic mass of thirty elements

• André Dumont (1809–1857) – Belgian geologist who prepared the first geological map of Belgium and named many of the subdivisions of the Cretaceous and Tertiary[28]

• Charles Dupin (1784–1873) – mathematician who discovered the Dupin cyclide and the Dupin indicatrix[29]

• John Eccles (1903–1997) – awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the synapse[30]

• Stephan Endlicher (1804–1849) – botanist who formulated a major system of plant classification

• Bartolomeo Eustachi (c.1500–1574) – one of the founders of human anatomy

• Jean-Henri Fabre (1823–1915) – naturalist, entomologist, and science writer; "The Homer of Insects"

• Hieronymus Fabricius (1537–1619) – father of embryology

• Gabriele Falloppio (1523–1562) – pioneering Italian anatomist who studied the human ear and reproductive organs

• Mary Celine Fasenmyer (1906–1996) – religious sister and mathematician, founder of Sister Celine's polynomials

• Hervé Faye (1814–1902) – astronomer whose discovery of the periodic comet 4P/Faye won him the 1844 Lalande Prize and membership in the French Academy of Sciences

• Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665) – number theorist who contributed to the early development of calculus

• Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) – awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work in induced radioactivity

• Jean Fernel (1497–1558) – physician who introduced the term physiology

• Fibonacci (c.1170–c.1250) – popularized Hindu-Arabic numerals in Europe and discovered the Fibonacci sequence

• Hippolyte Fizeau (1819–1896) – first person to determine experimentally the velocity of light[31]

• Lawrence Flick (1856–1938) – American physican who pioneered research and treatment of tuberculosis

• Léon Foucault (1819–1868) – invented the Foucault pendulum to measure the effect of the earth's rotation

• Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826) – discovered Fraunhofer lines in the sun's spectrum

• Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) – made significant contributions to the theory of wave optics

• Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs (1774–1856) – confirmed the stoichiometric laws and observed isomorphism and the cation exchange of zeolites[32]

• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) – father of modern science[33]

• Luigi Galvani (1737–1798) – formulated the theory of animal electricity

• William Gascoigne (1610–1644) – developed the first micrometer

• Riccardo Giacconi (1931–) – Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist who laid the foundations of X-ray astronomy

• Paula González (1932–) – religious sister and professor of biology

• Peter Grünberg (1939–2018) – German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate[34]

• Johannes Gutenberg (c.1398–1468) – inventor of the printing press

• Samuel Stehman Haldeman (1812–1880) – American naturalist and convert to Catholicism who researched fresh-water mollusks, the human voice, Amerindian dialects, and the organs of sound of insects

• Jean Baptiste Julien d'Omalius d'Halloy (1783–1875) – one of the pioneers of modern geology[35]

• Eduard Heis (1806–1877) – astronomer who contributed the first true delineation of the Milky Way

• Jan Baptist van Helmont (1579–1644) – founder of pneumatic chemistry

• George de Hevesy (1885–1966) – Hungarian radiochemist and Nobel laureate[36]

• Charles Hermite (1822–1901) – mathematician who did research on number theory, quadratic forms, elliptic functions, and algebra

• John Philip Holland (1840–1914) – developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the US Navy

• Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836) – first to propose a natural classification of flowering plants

• Mary Kenneth Keller (c.1914–1985) – Sister of Charity and first American woman to earn a PhD in computer science, helped develop BASIC

• Annie Chambers Ketchum (1824–1904) – convert to Catholicism and botanist who published Botany for academies and colleges: consisting of plant development and structure from seaweed to clematis

• Brian Kobilka (1955–) – American Nobel Prize winning professor who teaches at Stanford University School of Medicine[37][38]

• Karl Kreil (1798–1862) – meteorologist and astronomer who conducted important studies of terrestrial magnetism [39]

• Stephanie Kwolek (1923–2014) – chemist who developed Kevlar at DuPont in 1965

• René Laennec (1781–1826) – physician who invented the stethoscope

• Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813) – mathematician and astronomer known for Lagrangian points and Lagrangian mechanics

• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829) – French naturalist, biologist and academic whose theories on evolution preceded those of Darwin

• Johann von Lamont (1805–1879) – astronomer and physicist who studied the magnetism of the Earth and was the first to calculate the mass of Uranus

• Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943) – Nobel Prize winner who identified and classified the human blood types

• Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833) – pioneer in entomology

• Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) – father of modern chemistry[40]

• Claude-Nicolas Le Cat (1700–1768) – invented or perfected several instruments for lithotomy and was one of the first adherents of a mechanistic approach to physiology[41]

• Jérôme Lejeune (1926–1994) – pediatrician and geneticist, best known for his discovery of the link of diseases to chromosome abnormalities

• Jacques Jean Lhermitte (1877–1959) - French neurologist and neuropsychiatrist; clinical director at the Salpêtrière Hospital

• Karl August Lossen (1841–1893) – geologist who mapped and described the Harz Mountains[42]

• Jonathan Lunine (1959–) – planetary scientist at the forefront of research into planet formation, evolution, and habitability; serves as vice-president of the Society of Catholic Scientists[43]

• William James MacNeven (1763–1841) – Irish-American physician and chemist who was an early proponent of atomic theory[44]

• Marcello Malpighi (1628–1694) – father of comparative physiology[45]

• Étienne-Louis Malus (1775–1812) – discovered the polarization of light

• Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714–1774) – anatomist and anatomical wax artist who lectured at the University of Bologna

• Giovanni Manzolini (1700–1755) – anatomical wax artist and Professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna

• Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937) – father of wireless technology and radio transmission

• Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (1658–1730) – one of the founders of modern oceanography[46]

• Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1698–1759) – known for the Maupertuis principle and for being the first president of the Berlin Academy of Science

• Michele Mercati (1541–1593) – one of the first to recognize prehistoric stone tools as man-made

• Charles W. Misner (1932–) – American cosmologist dedicated to the study of general relativity

• Kenneth R. Miller (1948–) – American cell biologist and molecular biologist who teaches at Brown University[47]

• Mario J. Molina (1943–) – Mexican chemist, one of the precursors to the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole (1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)

• Peter Joseph Moloney (1891–1989) – Canadian immunologist and pioneering vaccine researcher, who worked out the first large-scale purification of insulin in 1922; International Gairdner Award, 1967)[48]

• Gaspard Monge (1746–1818) – father of descriptive geometry

• John J. Montgomery (1858–1911) – American physicist and inventor of gliders and aerodynamics

• Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682–1771) – father of modern anatomical pathology[49]

• Johannes Peter Müller (1801–1858) – founder of modern physiology[50]

• Joseph Murray (1919–2012) – Nobel Prize in Medicine laureate[51]

• John von Neumann (1903–1957) – Hungarian-born American mathematician and polymath[52] who converted to Catholicism[53]

• Martin Nowak (1965–) – evolutionary theorist and Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University; serves on the board of the Society of Catholic Scientists[43]

• Karin Öberg (1982–) – her Öberg Astrochemistry Group discovered the first complex organic molecule in a protoplanetary disk; serves on the board of the Society of Catholic Scientists[43]

• Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) – created the first modern atlas and theorized on continental drift

• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) – French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and philosopher

• Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) – father of bacteriology[3][54]

• Pierre Joseph Pelletier (1788–1842) – co-discovered strychnine, caffeine, quinine, cinchonine, among many other discoveries in chemistry[55]

• Georg von Peuerbach (1423–1461) – called the father of mathematical and observational astronomy in the West[56]

• Michael Polanyi (1891–1976) – Hungarian polymath, made contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy

• Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998) – Croatian-Swiss organic chemist, winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize for chemistry

• Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934) – awarded the Nobel Prize for his contributions to neuroscience

• Giancarlo Rastelli (1933–1970) – Pioneering cardiac surgeon at the Mayo Clinic who developed the Rastelli procedure; he is a Servant of God in the Catholic Church

• René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757) – scientific polymath known especially for his study of insects

• Francesco Redi (1626–1697) – his experiments with maggots were a major step in overturning the idea of spontaneous generation

• Henri Victor Regnault (1810–1878) – chemist with two laws governing the specific heat of gases named after him[57]

• Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro (1853–1925) – one of the founders of tensor calculus

• Gilles de Roberval (1602–1675) – mathematician who studied the geometry of infinitesimals and was one of the founders of kinematic geometry

• Clemens C. J. Roothaan (1918–) – physicist known for developing the Roothaan equations

• Frederick Rossini (1899–1990) – Priestley Medal and Laetare Medal-winning chemist[58]

• Paul Sabatier (chemist) (1854–1941) – awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work improving the hydrogenation of organic species in the presence of metals

• Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant (1797–1886) – remembered for Saint-Venant's principle, Saint-Venant's theorem, and Saint-Venant's compatibility condition; given the title Count by Pope Pius IX in 1869

• Theodor Schwann (1810–1882) – founder of the theory of the cellular structure of animal organisms

• Ignaz Semmelweis (1818–1865) – early pioneer of antiseptic procedures, discoverer of the cause of puerperal fever

• J. Wolfgang Smith (1930-) – mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of science

• Horatio Storer (1830-1922) – physician; founder of the Gynaecological Society of Boston, the first medical society devoted exclusively to gynecology; leader of the "physicians' crusade against abortion"

• Louis Jacques Thénard (1777–1857) – discovered hydrogen peroxide and contributed to the discovery of boron[59]

• Evangelista Torricelli (1608–1647) – inventor of the barometer

• Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1397–1482) – Italian mathematician, astronomer and cosmographer

• Richard Towneley (1629–1707) – mathematician and astronomer whose work contributed to the formulation of Boyle's Law

• Louis René Tulasne (1815–1885) – biologist with several genera and species of fungi named after him

• Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829) – discovered the chemical element beryllium

• Urbain Le Verrier (1811–1877) – mathematician who predicted the discovery of Neptune

• Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) – father of modern human anatomy

• François Viète (1540–1603) – father of modern algebra[60]

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) – Renaissance anatomist, scientist, mathematician, and painter

• Vincenzo Viviani (1622–1703) – mathematician known for Viviani's theorem, Viviani's curve and his work in determining the speed of sound

• Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) – physicist known for the invention of the battery[4]

• Wilhelm Heinrich Waagen (1841–1900) – geologist and paleontologist who provided the first example of evolution described from the geologic record, after studying Jurassic ammonites[61]

• James Joseph Walsh (1865–1942) – dean and professor of nervous diseases and of the history of medicine at Fordham University; Laetare Medal recipient

• Karl Weierstrass (1815–1897) – often called the father of modern analysis[62]

• E. T. Whittaker (1873–1956) – English mathematician who made contributions to applied mathematics and mathematical physics

• Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) – one of the founders of scientific archaeology

• Bertram Windle (1858–1929) – anthropologist, physician, and former president of University College Cork

• Jacob B. Winslow (1669–1760) – convert to Catholicism who was regarded as the greatest European anatomist of his day [63]

• Antonino Zichichi (1929–) – Italian nuclear physicist, former President of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare[64][65]

​​

​

SEE ALSO:  

-1600

Scientists A-Z

A-G

Jean Buridan 1300-1358

Jean Buridan 1300-1358

Buridan was a French philosopher and priest. One of his most significant contributions to science was the development of the theory of impetus, that explained the movement of projectiles and objects in free-fall. This theory gave way to the dynamics of Galileo Galilei and for Isaac Newton's famous principle of Inertia, an important development in the history of medieval science.  His name is most familiar through the thought experiment known as Buridan's ass.

Buridan was a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris for his entire career, focusing in particular on logic and the works of Aristotle. Buridan sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe.

​

​

ref:

​

Ignazio Danti 1536-1586

​

Ignazio Danti (April 1536 – 19 October 1586), was an Italian priest, mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer. As bishop of Alatri he convoked a diocesan synod to deal with abuses.

Danti  painted 30 maps of different regions of the world. He worked on many  significant scientific and cosmographic projects in Florence, including the large terrestrial globe of the Guardaroba (1564–1568), and a number of brass scientific instruments, such as an astrolabe.

​

​

ref:

 
www.catholic.orghttps://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=3655

Galileo Galilei 1564-1642

​

​

​

​

​

​

                                                                                                     Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Galileo Galilei was often referred to simply as Galileo. He was an Italian physicist and astronomer who used the telescope to study the heavens, contributed to the field of mechanical physics, proposed the heliocentric model of Copernicus (the sun at the center) as the accurate universal model.

​

ref:

Conservapedia

Pierre Gassendi 1592-1655

​

​

​

​

​

                                                                                      Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi (22 January 1592 – 24 October 1655) was a French philosopher, priest, astronomer, and mathematician. He was an active observational scientist, publishing the first data on the transit of Mercury in 1631. He tried to reconcile Atomism with Christianity, and corrected the geographical coordinates of the Mediterranean Sea. The lunar crater Gassendi is named after him.[1]

​

In addition to this he did work on determining longitude via eclipses of the moon and on improving the Rudolphine Tables. He addressed the issue of free fall in De motu (1642) and De proportione qua gravia decidentia accelerantur (1646).
 

Being a devout Catholic he always attended Sunday Mass, and Feast days. When nearing his death, and in his last illness, he asked for the Viaticum three times for extreme unction.

"Gassendi was esteemed by all, and loved by the poor for whom he provided in lifetime and in his last will."[2]

​

​

Ref:

[1]

[2] newadvent.org/cathen/06391b.htm

Robert Grosseteste 1175-1253

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

                                                                                                     Robert Grosseteste

Robert Grosseteste (ad. 1175 – 9 October 1253) Bishop of Lincoln, he was the central character of the English intellectual movement in the first half of the 13th century and is considered the founder of scientific thought in Oxford. He had a great interest in the natural world and wrote texts on the mathematical sciences of optics, astronomy and geometry.

He affirmed that experiments should be used in order to verify a theory, testing its consequences and added greatly to the development of the scientific method.

He was born of humble parents at Stradbroke in Suffolk.

​

​

Ref:

H-M

Hildegard of Bingen 1098-1179

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179): Also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess. She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.[1] She was an

artist, author, composer, mystic, pharmacist, poet, preacher, and theologian[2]

​

​

ref:

[1] Wikipedia

[2] https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-hildegard-of-bingen/

Juan Lobkowitz 1606-1682

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz

 
Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, (May 23, 1606 in Madrid — September 7 or 8, 1682 in Vigevano)

​

Juan Lobkowitz was a Cistercian monk who did work on Combinatorics and published astronomy tables at age 10.  He was a scholastic philosopher, ecclesiastic, mathematician and writer. He also did works of theology and sermons. 

Works

He published no fewer than 262 works on grammar, poetry, oratory, mathematics, astronomy, architecture, physics, politics, canon law, logic, metaphysics, theology and asceticism.

​

Caramuel was also the first mathematician who made a reasoned study on non-decimal counts, thus making a significant contribution to the development of the binary numeral system.

​

​

Ref:
-
- newadvent.org/cathen/03329c.htm

Alburtus Magnus 1206-1280

​

​

Saint Albert the Great

What’s a list of major intellectual achievements without a Dominican or two on the list?! Fr. Albertus Magnus is the patron saint of the natural sciences and a Doctor of the Church because of his great work in in physics, logic, metaphysics, biology, and psychology.
 

Albertus Magnus (1206 – November 15, 1280), also known as Albert the Great, was the Bishop of Regensburg. A German Dominican, a teacher, a scientist, philosopher, theologian and an extraordinary genius. Contemporary Ulrich Engelbert calls Albert "the wonder and the miracle of his age." 

Albert was a teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas.

He introduced Greek Arabic science and philosophy to medieval Europe. He also decisively positioned the Church toward Aristotle's philosophy of merging religion and science.

Albert proved to the world that the Church is not opposed to the study of nature, and that faith and science may go hand in hand. He was designated a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI, in December 1931. Saint Albert the Great is the patron saint of scientists.

​

​

N-P

Nicholas of Cusa 1401-1464

​

​

​

Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464): Catholic cardinal and theologian who made contributions to the field of mathematics by developing the concepts of the infinitesimal and of relative motion. His philosophical speculations also anticipated Copernicus’ heliocentric world-view.

​

​

ref: 

Nicole Oresme 1323-1382

​

​

Portrait of Nicole Oresme: Miniature from Oresme's Traité de l'espère, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France, fonds français 565, fol. 1r.

Nicole Oresme  Ad. 1320–1325 – July 11, 1382) was Bishop of Lisieux.

​

He was a philosopher, economist, mathematician, and physicist, and one of the principal founders of modern science.

He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology and astronomy, philosophy, and theology. One of his many scientific contributions is the discovery of the curvature of light through atmospheric refraction.
 

He was a translator, a counselor of King Charles V of France, and probably one of the most original thinkers of 14th-century Europe.

​

​

-
-  

Blaise Pascal 1623-1662

​

Blaise Pascal

​

​

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a French mathematician and philosopher, who was homeschooled by his father.

​

A child prodigy, Pascal wrote his first scientific paper at age 8 and by 16 had written a mathematical essay advancing the field of geometry.

​

At age 19, Pascal invented the first calculating machine. At age 23, Pascal proved the existence of the vacuum, which made possible barometers, hydraulic devices and hypodermic syringes.

​

At age 31, Pascal developed a deep relationship with Christ. To help others know Christ, Pascal proposed a "wager" (Pascal's wager):

​

"Christianity must be either true or false. If you bet that it's true and accept Christ, then if it is true you have gained everything. If it's false, then you've lost nothing and have had a good and happy life. But if you bet that Christianity is false, and it turns out to be true, then you have lost everything."

Pascal wrote:

"When everything is moving at once, nothing appears to be moving, as on board ship. When everyone is moving toward depravity, no one seems to be moving, but if someone stops, he shows up the others who are rushing on, by acting as a fixed point." - Pascal, quoted in The Silence of Adam: Becoming Men of Courage (Page 170)

​

​

Ref:

- Conservapedia

Q-T

Anton Maria of Rheita 1604-1660

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Anton Maria of Rheita (1604–1660)  a friar, was an astronomer and optician. He developed several inverting and erecting eyepieces, and was the maker of Kepler’s telescope.

​

"Things appear more alive with the binocular telescope," he wrote, "doubly as exact so to speak, as well as large and bright." His binocular telescope is the precursor to our binoculars.

​

​

Ref:

-Wikipedia

Nicolas Steno 1638-1686

Blessed
Nicolas Steno
Vicar Apostolic of Nordic Missions
 

​

Portrait of Steno as bishop

​

Nicolas Steno (1638 -1686) was a Lutheran convert to Catholicism, his beatification in that faith occurred in 1987. As a Danish scientist he is considered a pioneer in both anatomy and geology, but largely abandoned science after his religious conversion. He became a Catholic bishop in his later years.

​

Nicholas Steno made great strides in anatomy and geology. Various parts of the body are named after him: Stensen’s duct, Stensen’s gland, Stensen’s vein, and Stensen’s foramina. He is also the founder of the study of fossils.
 

Scholars consider him one of the founders of modern stratigraphy and modern geology.

​

While "residing in the Netherlands he had begun to doubt the truth of the Lutheran doctrines, and became convinced of the truth of Catholicism. He entered the Church on 4 November, 1667.

​

​

Ref:

[1] 
[2] newadvent.org/cathen/14286a.htm

U-Z

Ferdinand Verbiest

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

"Le Pere Ferdinand Verbiest"
(Detail of engraving from French book about Chinese empire, published 1736)[1]

​

​

Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in the County of Flanders (now part of Belgium).[2] He is known as Nan Huairen. 

He was an accomplished mathematician and astronomer and proved to the court of the Kangxi Emperor that European astronomy was more accurate than Chinese astronomy. He then corrected the Chinese calendar and was later asked to rebuild and re-equip the Beijing Ancient Observatory, being given the role of Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory.

He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) on 2 September 1641.[2] Verbiest continued studying theology in Seville, where he was ordained as a priest in 1655.[2] He completed his studies in astronomy and theology in Rome.[3]
His intention had been to become a missionary in the Spanish missions to Central America, but this was not to be. His call was to the Far East, where the Roman Catholic Church was 'on mission' to compensate for the loss of (Catholic) believers to the emerging Protestantism in Europe.[3]

Astronomy Contests
In 1664, the Chinese astronomer Yang Guangxian (1597–1669), who had published a pamphlet against the Jesuits, challenged Schall von Bell to a public astronomy competition. 

Yang won and took Schall von Bell's place as Head of Mathematics. Having lost the competition, Schall von Bell and the other Jesuits were chained and thrown into a filthy prison, accused of teaching a false religion. They were bound to wooden pegs in such a way that they could neither stand nor sit and remained there for almost two months until a sentence of strangulation was imposed. 

A high court found the sentence too light and ordered them to be cut up into bits while still alive.[5] Fortunately for them, on 16 April 1665,[6] a violent earthquake destroyed  the part of the prison chosen for the execution. An extraordinary meteor was seen in the sky, and a fire destroyed the part of the imperial palace where the condemnation was pronounced.[7] 

This was seen as an omen and all the prisoners were released. However, they still had to stand trial, and all the Jesuits but Verbiest, Schall von Bell and two others were exiled to Canton. Schall von Bell died within a year, due to the conditions of his confinement.[4]

In 1669, the Kangxi Emperor managed to take power by having the remaining (corrupt) regent, Oboi, arrested. In the same year, the emperor was informed that serious errors had been found in the calendar for 1670, which had been drawn up by Yang Guangxian. Kangxi commanded a public test to compare the merits of European and Chinese astronomy. 

The test was to predict three things: the length of the shadow thrown by a gnomon of a given height at noon of a certain day; the absolute and relative positions of the Sun and the planets on a given date; and the exact time of an anticipated lunar eclipse. 

It was decided that Yang and Verbiest should each use their mathematical skills to determine the answers and that "The Heavens would be the judge". The contest was held at the Bureau of Astronomy in the presence of senior-ranking government ministers and officials from the observatory.

Unlike Yang, Verbiest had access to the latest updates on the Rudolphine Tables, and was assisted by telescopes for observation. He succeeded in all three tests, and was immediately installed as Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory. 

Out of consideration for him, the exiled Jesuits were authorized to return to their missions. Meanwhile, Yang was sentenced to the same death he had planned for his Jesuit rival, but the sentence was reduced to exile and he died en route to his native home.[2][4][5][8]

Verbiest's 'car'

The steam 'car' designed by Verbiest in 1672 – from an 18th-century print

Beside his work in astronomy, Verbiest also experimented with steam. Around 1672 he designed – as a toy for the Chinese Emperor – a steam-propelled trolley which was, quite possibly, the first working steam-powered vehicle ('auto-mobile').[17] Verbiest describes it in his manuscript Astronomia Europea that was finished in 1681. A friar brought it to europe and it was then printed in 1687 in Germany.

In this work, Verbiest first mentioned the (latin) term motor in its present meaning. With one filling of coal, he wrote that the vehicle was able to move more than one hour. [18] As it was only 65 cm (25.6 in) long, and therefore effectively a scale model, not designed to carry human passengers, nor a driver or goods, it is not strictly accurate to call it a 'car'.[19] Despite this, it was the first vehicle that was able to move by 'self-made' engine power.

Since the steam engine was still not known at that time, Verbiest used the principle of an aeolipile. Steam was generated in a ball-shaped boiler, emerging through a pipe at the top, from where it was directed at a simple, open "steam turbine" (rather like a water wheel) that drove the rear wheels.

It is not verified by other known sources if Verbiest's model was ever built at the time and it does not exist any authentic drawing of it, although he had access to China's finest metal-working craftsmen who were constructing precision astronomical instruments for him.

Final days and death
Verbiest died in Beijing shortly after receiving a wound from falling off a bolting horse.[16] He was succeeded as the chief mathematician and astronomer of the Chinese empire by another Belgian Jesuit, Antoine Thomas (1644–1709). 

His remains were buried near those of two other famous Jesuits – Matteo Ricci and Johann Adam Schall von Bell – on 11 March 1688. Visiting their tomb is not easy, since it is on the campus of a College of Political Science, but it is well-maintained.[5]

Verbiest was the only Westerner in Chinese history to ever receive the honour of a posthumous name by the Emperor.

​

​

 

​