Many Nobel Prize winning scientists believed there is scientific evidence which is best explained by an intelligent designer and creator of the universe. These Nobelists include Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, Guglielmo Marconi, Brian D. Josephson, William Phillips, Richard Smalley, Arno Penzias, Charles Townes, George Wald, Arthur Compton, Antony Hewish, Christian Anfinsen, Walter Kohn, and Arthur Schawlow. Other great scientists who believed the same thing include Sir Fred Hoyle, John von Neumann, and Wernher von Braun. (Eminent Researchers.)
This scientific evidence of design and creation includes the evidence that if certain natural laws were only the tiniest bit different, life could not exist in the universe. This indicates the universe was fine-tuned to support life. To understand why this argument is so convincing, consider that the ratio of the number of electrons to the number of protons in the universe is fine-tuned to one part in 1037. To visualize how improbable that value is, consider this explanation from godandscience.org
One part in 1037 is such an incredibly sensitive balance that it is hard to visualize. The following analogy might help: Cover the entire North American continent in dimes all the way up to the moon, a height of about 239,000 miles (In comparison, the money to pay for the U.S. federal government debt would cover one square mile less than two feet deep with dimes.). Next, pile dimes from here to the moon on a billion other continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the billions of piles of dimes. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he will pick the red dime are one in 1037.
The ratio of electrons to protons is not the only parameter of the universe that is fine tuned. There are many others. To calculate the probabilities of these all together you would multiply them and the result would be fantastically, incomprehensibly, improbable:
(The information below comes from godandscience.org unless otherwise noted. More information on fine-tuning of the universe and an explanation of how fine-tuning is calculated can be found at Guillermo Gonzalez on the Fine-tuning of the Universe to Support Life.)
- Expansion rate of the universe: fine-tuned to 1 part in 1060 (1:1060) (See refrence 1)
If larger: the heat and energy of the universe would dissipate too quickly stable galaxies would not form
If smaller: the matter in the universe would have collapsed back on itself
Gravitational force constant: 1:1040 (ref. 1)
If larger: stars would be too hot, they would burn up too quickly, and too unevenly
If smaller: stars would remain too cool so that nuclear fusion would never ignite and hence we would have no element production
Initial Entropy of the Universe: 1:1010123 (one in ten to the tenth to the 123rd) (ref. 3)
If larger: stars would not form within proto-galaxies
If smaller: no proto-galaxies would form
Initial entropy before inflation: Greater than 1:1010123 (ref. 5)
If larger: stars would not form within proto-galaxies
If smaller: no proto-galaxies would form
Mass Density of Universe: 1:1059
If larger: overabundance of deuterium from big bang would cause stars to burn rapidly, too rapidly for life to form
If smaller: insufficient helium from big bang would result in a shortage of heavy elements
Strong nuclear force: 1:50 (ref. 4)
If larger: no hydrogen would form; atomic nuclei for most life-essential elements would be unstable
If smaller: no elements heavier than hydrogen would form
Cosmological constant: 1:10120
If larger: universe would expand too quickly to form solar-type stars
Ratio of number of electrons to number of protons: 1:1037
If larger or smaller, electromagnetism would dominate gravity, preventing galaxy, star, and planet formation
Ratio of Electromagnetic force constant : Gravitational force constant: 1:1040
If larger: all stars would be at least 40% more massive than the sun stellar burning would be too brief and too uneven to support life
If smaller: all stars would be at least 20% less massive than the sun, thus incapable of producing heavy elements
Flatness: 1:1015 (ref. 5)
Inflation shut-off energy: Between 1:1053 and 1:10123 (ref. 5)
Cosmic microwave background radiation: 1:100,000 (ref. 5)
Godandscience,org lists 34 fine-tuning parameters:
- Strong nuclear force constant
- Weak nuclear force constant
- Gravitational force constant
- Electromagnetic force constant
- Ratio of electromagnetic force constant to gravitational force constant
- Ratio of electron to proton mass
- Ratio of number of protons to number of electrons
- Expansion rate of the universe
- Entropy level of the universe
- Mass density of the universe
- Velocity of light
- Age of the universe
- Initial uniformity of radiation
- Average distance between galaxies
- Density of galaxy cluster
- Average distance between stars
- Fine structure constant (describing the fine-structure splitting of spectral lines)
- Decay rate of protons
- 12C to 16O nuclear energy level ratio
- Ground state energy level for 4He
- Decay rate of 8Be
- Ratio of neutron mass to proton mass
- Initial excess of nucleons over anti-nucleons
- Polarity of the water molecule
- Supernovae eruptions
- White dwarf binaries
- Ratio of exotic matter mass to ordinary matter mass
- Number of effective dimensions in the early universe
- Number of effective dimensions in the present universe
if smaller: electron, planet, and star orbits would become unstable
if larger: same result
- Mass of the neutrino
- Big bang ripples
- Size of the relativistic dilation factor
- Uncertainty magnitude in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle
- Cosmological constant
Many people have wondered how the universe could be so mathematically precise: how natural laws could follow mathematical rules, and how the universe could be so fantastically, improbably, fine-tuned to permit the existence of life. There is a simple answer for that.
First, consider the analogy that the universe might be a simulation running on a computer. That would explain how it could operate with such mathematical precision. All the laws and fine-tuned parameters could be specified in the program. But that is just an analogy. I am not suggesting the universe is a computer simulation. However, it may be that the universe was created in the mind of God. In which case God is analogous to the computer and the universe is analogous to a program running on the computer.
Mathematics consists entirely of ideas. God is pure mind. God creates through thought. All that can exist is mind. Your consciousness is not part of the "simulation". Your brain and body are part of it, but you, your consciousness, is not physical. You would still exist if the "simulation" ended. But the physical universe of space and time may exist only in the mind of God. This may be what mystics mean when they say everything is part of God.
If this is right, then God can create miracles with a thought. He can cause improbable events such as the origin and evolution of life with a thought.
It also makes sense of quantum mechanics. If the physical universe exists as thought in the mind of God, then there is no ultimate reality to explain quantum mechanics or to explain what a wave function is. There are only mathematical formulas that describe how our reality will behave. It is exactly what you would expect if you found natural laws that obeyed mathematical rules that made no physical sense. It might be because there isn't anything physical behind them. There is only a mathematical engine (consciousness, the mind of God) behind them. It could explain wave/particle duality, quantum entanglement, and the quantum Zeno effect. It is also consistent with the theistic and mystical belief that the continued action of God is necessary to keep the physical universe extant.
References
1. jashow.org: The Four Great Discoveries of Modern Science That Prove God Exists/Program 3
2. godandscience.org: Evidence for the Fine Tuning of the Universe by Rich Deem
3. evolutionnews.org: Roger Penrose on Cosmic Fine-Tuning: "Incredible Precision in the Organization of the Initial Universe" by Casey Luskin
4. Wikipedia: Fine-tuned Universe
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