Owen Gingerich (1930–2023)

Gingerich, professor of astronomy and professor of the history of science at Harvard University, and also an Anabaptist Christian, delivers an effective rebuke to the idea that science and religion are incompatible. This book may not provide any ideas not more fully developed elsewhere, but Gingerich's is an intelligent and reasoned voice, and his unique background combining an anabaptist (Amish) upbringing and value system with his scientific achievement in the academy makes him an interesting figure.

Gingerich holds the belief that the universe has been created and guided by an intelligence, God, and has a purpose. One source of support for this position comes from the amazing "fine tuning" of many cosmic conditions, any of which if different would have made impossible the development of life in the universe (see physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies' book "The Cosmic Jackpot).

An example: the balance between the outward expansion of energy and the inward pull of gravitational forces just after the Big Bang had to be accurate to within one part in 10 to the 59th power. A slight bit too much expansion would have left matter too widely dispersed to form galaxies, planets, intelligent beings, etc., and a slight bit too much gravitational pull would have collapsed the universe back on itself before these things could have developed. Were we just incredibly lucky that the balance happened to be just perfect to such an incredible degree for the eventual emergence of life? Or does this suggest some intelligence and purpose at work?

But although it makes more sense to Gingerich to view the universe as having a creative intelligence with purpose behind it, and he argues that the atheistic belief in a purposeless universe is a philosophical idea and not a scientific one, he is not trying to convert his atheistic colleagues in the scientific community. Rather he is arguing that both he, a believer in God, and his atheist colleagues will produce the same science regardless of their metaphysical positions on God and the cosmos.… (altro)

While the author does name drop a bit, does wax a bit nostalgic about his career, and does gloat a bit about his discoveries, this is still a fascinating book. Not only does it provide information about who used Nicolaus Copernicus' book, and when and how, but it also provides information about the educational system in the 1500s and 1600s, publishing, book collecting, museum work, university research into the history of science, and a number of other topics. It may be a book that is more about how research into the history of science is conducted, and I may have wished for more information about Copernicus and his life, but it's still a grand read.… (altro)