I have added entries for Nobel Prize winning scientists Werner Heisenberg, Guglielmo Marconi, William Phillips, Richard Smalley, Ernst Chain, Arthur Compton, Antony Hewish, Christian Anfinsen, and Walter Kohn to my web page on eminent researchers who believed in some paranormal phenomena because of their own research, the research of others, or their own experiences. There are now twenty fve Nobelist on that page.
- Werner Heisenberg believed that studying science led one to believe in God.
- Guglielmo Marconi believed that studying nature and working in science led to the belief that the universe was created.
- William Phillips believed the that evidence of natural laws and the fine-tuning of the universe is evidence that the universe was created.
- Richard Smalley believed the fine-tuning of the universe is scientific evidence that the universe was designed and created by God.
- Ernst Chain did not believe in the natural origin of life because it is chemically impossible. He also did not believe in natural evolution because he felt natural selection was only an assumption not a scientific theory, and it did not explain the purposefulness in the development of individual organisms or the evolution of species.
- Arthur Compton believed that the "orderly unfolding" of the universe demonstrated a plan created by God.
- Antony Hewish did not believe that the universe or life arose naturally.
- Christian Anfinsen said that, like Albert Einstein, he believed that studying science leads to belief in God.
- Walter Kohn said that he, like Albert Einstein, believed that studying nature led him to believe in a higher power.
Werner Heisenberg
(Nobel Prize for Physics)From Wikikpedia:
Werner Karl Heisenberg (5 December 1901 - 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the key creators of quantum mechanics. ... Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics".Heisenberg thought that belief in God is a natural result of studying science. He said:
The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.Guglielmo Marconi
(Nobel Prize for Physics)Guglielmo Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (... 25 April 1874 - 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission... Marconi ... shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". (Wikipedia)Marconi believed that studying nature and working in science led to the belief that the universe was created.The more I work with the powers of Nature, the more I feel God’s benevolence to man; the closer I am to the great truth that everything is dependent on the Eternal Creator and Sustainer; the more I feel that the so-called science, I am occupied with, is nothing but an expression of the Supreme Will, which aims at bringing people closer to each other in order to help them better understand and improve themselves. (Quotes about God...)William Phillips
(Nobel Prize for Physics)William Daniel Phillips (born November 5, 1948) is a Nobel Prize award winning, American physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics, in 1997, with Steven Chu and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji. (Wikipedia)William Phillips believed the that evidence of natural laws and the fine-tuning of the universe is evidence that the universe was created.I believe that the observations about the orderliness of the physical universe, and the apparently exceptional fine-tuning of the conditions of the universe for the development of life suggest that an intelligent Creator is responsible. (A Hitch in the Giddy-Up)Richard Smalley
(Nobel Prize for Chemistry)Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 - October 28, 2005)... In 1996, along with Robert Curl, ... and Harold Kroto, ... he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of a new form of carbon, buckminsterfullerene ("buckyballs") ... (Wikepedia)Smalley believed the fine-tuning of the universe is scientific evidence that the universe was designed and created by God.
... God did create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago, and of necessity has involved Himself with His creation ever since. The purpose of this universe is something that only God knows for sure, but it is increasingly clear to modern science that the universe was exquisitely fine-tuned to enable human life. ... Wikiquote.Ernst Chain
(Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine)Sir Ernst Boris Chain, FRS (19 June 1906 - 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist, and a 1945 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin. (Wikipedia)Chain did not believe that life arose naturally because it would be impossible due to the laws of chemistry. He believed the existence of life is better explained by the action of God.
(The excerpts about Chain below are from 50 Nobel Laureates and Other Great Scientists who Believe in God by Tihomir Dimitrov.)
Concerning the Materialistic theory of evolution Ernst Chain ... states:Chain also did not believe in natural evolution. He recognized it was based on assumptions and was not a scientific theory.I would rather believe in fairies than in such wild speculation.I have said for years that speculations about the origin of life lead to no useful purpose as even the simplest living system is far too complex to be understood in terms of the extremely primitive chemistry scientists have used in their attempts to explain the unexplainable that happened billions of years ago. God cannot be explained away by such naive thoughts.”
Only one theory has been advanced to make an attempt to understand the development of life - the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution. And a very feeble attempt it is, based on such flimsy assumptions, mainly of morphological-anatomical nature that it can hardly be called a theory.Chain thought the theory of "natural selection" explained nothing. He thought that "survival of the fittest" was a statement of an obvious fact and was lacking substance and therefore was not a scientific theory. He also believed that something more was necessary because development of individual organisms and evolution of species demonstrated purposefulness (teleology) that could not be explained by natural factors.
Concerning the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution Chain wrote:It is, of course, nothing but a truism, and not a scientific theory, to say that living systems do not survive if they are not fit to survive.
To postulate, as the positivists of the end of the 19th century and their followers here have done, that the development and survival of the fittest is entirely a consequence of chance mutations, or even that nature carries out experiments by trial and error through mutations in order to create living systems better fitted to survive, seems to me a hypothesis based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts.
This hypothesis wilfully neglects the principle of teleological purpose which stares the biologist in the face wherever he looks, whether he be engaged in the study of different organs in one organism, or even of different subcellular compartments in relation to each other in a single cell, or whether he studies the interrelation and interactions of various species.
These classical evolutionary theories are a gross oversimplification of an immensely complex and intricate mass of facts, and it amazes me that they were swallowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without a murmur of protest.
Arthur Compton
(Nobel Prize in Physics)Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 - March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his discovery of the Compton effect. He is also known for his leadership of the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory. He served as Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1945 to 1953. (Wikipedia)Arthur Compton believed that the "orderly unfolding" of the universe demonstrated a plan created by God.It is not difficult for me to have this faith, for it is incontrovertible that where there is a plan there is intelligence - an orderly, unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic statement ever uttered - 'In the beginning, God.' (brainyquote.com)Antony Hewish
(Nobel Prize in Physics)Antony Hewish FRS (born Fowey, Cornwall, 11 May 1924) is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969. (Wikipedia)Hewish did not believe that the universe or life arose naturally.I believe in God. It makes no sense to me to assume that the Universe and our existence is just a cosmic accident, that life emerged due to random physical processes in an environment which simply happened to have the right properties. (doesgodexist.org)Christian Anfinsen
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry)Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr. (March 26, 1916 - May 14, 1995) was an American biochemist. He shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Stanford Moore and William Howard Stein for work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation... (Wikipedia)Anfinsen said that, like Albert Einstein, he believed that studying science leads to belief in God.I enclose a favorite quotation from Einstein that agrees almost completely with my own point of view.Einstein himself once said that "The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God." (50 Nobel Laureates And Other Great Scientists Who Believe In God)
Walter Kohn
(Nobel Prize in Chemistry)Walter Kohn (born March 9, 1923) is an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the understandings of the electronic properties of materials. (Wikipedia)Walter Kohn said that he, like Albert Einstein, believed that studying nature led him to believe in a higher power.I have been influenced in my thinking by the writings of Einstein who has made remarks to the effect that when he contemplated the world he sensed an underlying Force much greater than any human force. I feel very much the same. There is a sense of awe, a sense of reverence, and a sense of great mystery. (doesgodexist.org)
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