List of Christians in science and technology


This is a list of Christians in science and technology. People in this list should have their Christianity as relevant to their notable activities or public life, and who have publicly identified themselves as Christians or as of a Christian denomination.

Before the 18th century

18th century (1701–1800)

  • John Ray : English botanist who wrote The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation and was among the first to attempt a biological definition for the concept of species. The John Ray Initiative of Environment and Christianity is also named for him.
  • Antonie van Leeuwenhoek : Dutch Reformed Calvinist who is remembered as the "father of microbiology".
  • Gottfried Leibniz : He was a philosopher who developed the philosophical theory of the Pre-established harmony; he is also most noted for his optimism, e.g., his conclusion that our Universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible one that God could have created. He also made major contributions to mathematics, physics, and technology. He created the Stepped Reckoner and his Protogaea concerns geology and natural history. He was a Lutheran who worked with convert to Catholicism John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in hopes of a reunification between Catholicism and Lutheranism.
  • Pierre Varignon : French mathematician and Catholic priest known for his contributions to statics and mechanics.
  • Guido Grandi : Italian monk, priest, philosopher, theologian, mathematician, and engineer.
  • Stephen Hales : Copley Medal winning scientist significant to the study of plant physiology. As an inventor designed a type of ventilation system, a means to distill sea-water, ways to preserve meat, etc. In religion he was an Anglican curate who worked with the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and for a group working to convert black slaves in the West Indies.
  • Firmin Abauzit : physicist and theologian. He translated the New Testament into French and corrected an error in Newton's Principia.
  • Emanuel Swedenborg : He did a great deal of scientific research with the Swedish Academy of Sciences having commissioned work by him. His religious writing is the basis of Swedenborgianism and several of his theological works contained some science hypotheses, most notably the Nebular hypothesis for the origin of the Solar System.
  • Albrecht von Haller : Swiss anatomist, physiologist known as "the father of modern physiology". A Protestant, he was involved in the erection of the Reformed church in Göttingen, and, as a man interested in religious questions, he wrote apologetic letters which were compiled by his daughter under the name .
  • Leonhard Euler : significant mathematician and physicist, see List of topics named after Leonhard Euler. The son of a pastor, he wrote Defense of the Divine Revelation against the Objections of the Freethinkers and is also commemorated by the Lutheran Church on their Calendar of Saints on May 24.
  • Roger Joseph Boscovich : Jesuit priest and physicist who produced a precursor of atomic theory
  • Maximilian Hell : Jesuit priest and astronomer
  • Mikhail Lomonosov : Russian Orthodox Christian who discovered the atmosphere of Venus and formulated the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions.
  • Antoine Lavoisier : considered the "father of modern chemistry". He is known for his discovery of oxygen's role in combustion, developing chemical nomenclature, developing a preliminary periodic table of elements, and the law of conservation of mass. He was a Catholic and defender of scripture.
  • Herman Boerhaave : Dutch physician and botanist known as the founder of clinical teaching. A collection of his religious thoughts on medicine, translated from Latin into English, has been compiled under the name Boerhaaveìs Orations.
  • John Michell : English clergyman who provided pioneering insights in a wide range of scientific fields, including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation.
  • Maria Gaetana Agnesi : mathematician appointed to a position by Pope Benedict XIV. After her father died she devoted her life to religious studies, charity, and ultimately became a nun.
  • Carl Linnaeus : Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, "father of modern taxonomy".
  • Thomas Bayes : British statistician. Known for Bayes' Theorem.

19th century (1801–1900)

20th century (1901–2000)

According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. Overall, 72.5% of all the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, 65.3% in Physics, 62% in Medicine, 54% in Economics were either Christians or had a Christian background.

21st century (2001–2100)

Currently living

Biological and biomedical sciences

Chemistry

  • Peter Agre : American physician, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, and molecular biologist at Johns Hopkins University who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of aquaporins. Agre is a Lutheran.
  • Peter Budd : British chemist and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. His research in general is based on polymer chemistry, energy and industrial separation processes, specifically on the areas of Polymers of intrinsic microporosity, energy storage, polyelectrolytes and separation membranes.
  • Andrew B. Bocarsly : American chemist known for his research in electrochemistry, photochemistry, solids state chemistry, and fuel cells. He is a professor of chemistry at Princeton University.
  • Gerhard Ertl : 2007 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry. He has said in an interview that "I believe in God. I am a Christian and I try to live as a Christian I read the Bible very often and I try to understand it."
  • Brian Kobilka : American Nobel Prize winner of Chemistry in 2012, and is professor in the departments of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kobilka attends the Catholic Community at Stanford, California. He received the Mendel Medal from Villanova University, which it says "honors outstanding pioneering scientists who have demonstrated, by their lives and their standing before the world as scientists, that there is no intrinsic conflict between science and religion".
  • Artem R. Oganov : Russian theoretical crystallographer, mineralogist, chemist, physicist, and materials scientist. He is a parishioner of St. Louis Catholic Church in Moscow.
  • Jeffrey Reimer: American chemist who is Chair of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at University of California, Berkeley. He has authored over 250 publications, has been cited over 14,000 times, and has a Google Scholar H-index of 63. His research is primarily focused to generate new knowledge to deliver environmental protection, sustainability, and fundamental insights via materials chemistry, physics, and engineering.
  • Henry F. Schaefer, III : American computational and theoretical chemist, and one of the most highly cited scientists in the world with a Thomson Reuters H-Index of 116. He is the Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and director of the Center for Computational Chemistry at the University of Georgia.
  • James Tour: American chemist who is currently the Chao Professor at Rice University
  • Troy Van Voorhis: American chemist who is currently the Haslam and Dewey Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Department of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Physics and astronomy

Earth sciences

Engineering

Others