---
title: "List of Christians in science and technology"
chunk: 4/17
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christians_in_science_and_technology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:31:01.455026+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

John Bachman (1790–1874): wrote numerous scientific articles and named several species of animals. He also was a founder of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and wrote works on Lutheranism. Robert Stirling (1790–1878): Scottish clergyman and engineer, minister in the Church of Scotland, best known for inventing the Stirling engine. Temple Chevallier (1794–1873): priest and astronomer who did Of the proofs of the divine power and wisdom derived from the study of astronomy. He also founded the Durham University Observatory, hence the Durham Shield is pictured. John Blissard (1803–1875): Church of England vicar, educator, and mathematician who invented what came to be known as the umbral calculus. Robert Main (1808–1878): Anglican priest who won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1858. Robert Main also preached at the British Association of Bristol. James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879): Although Clerk as a boy was taken to Presbyterian services by his father and to Anglican services by his aunt, while still a young student at Cambridge he underwent an Evangelical conversion that he described as having given him a new perception of the Love of God. Maxwell's evangelicalism "committed him to an anti-positivist position." He is known for his contributions in establishing electromagnetic theory (Maxwell's Equations) and work on the chemical kinetic theory of gases. James Bovell (1817–1880): Canadian physician and microscopist who was member of Royal College of Physicians. He was the mentor of William Osler, as well as an Anglican minister and religious author who wrote about natural theology. Andrew Pritchard (1804–1882): English naturalist and natural history dealer who made significant improvements to microscopy and wrote the standard work on aquatic micro-organisms. He devoted much energy to the chapel he attended, Newington Green Unitarian Church. William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865): Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Inventor of Hamiltonian mechanics and quaternions. Gregor Mendel (1822–1884): Augustinian Abbot who was the "father of modern genetics" for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. He preached sermons at Church, one of which deals with how Easter represents Christ's victory over death. Lewis Carroll (1832–1898): [real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], English writer, mathematician, and Anglican deacon. Robbins' and Rumsey's investigation of Dodgson's method, a method of evaluating determinants, led them to the Alternating Sign Matrix conjecture, now a theorem. Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894): German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves. Philip Henry Gosse (1810–1888): marine biologist who wrote Aquarium (1854), and A Manual of Marine Zoology (1855–56). He is more notable as a Christian Fundamentalist who coined the idea of Omphalos (theology). Asa Gray (1810–1888): His Gray's Manual remains a pivotal work in botany. His Darwiniana has sections titled "Natural selection not inconsistent with Natural theology", "Evolution and theology", and "Evolutionary teleology". The preface indicates his adherence to the Nicene Creed in concerning these religious issues. Julian Tenison Woods (1832–1889): co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart who won a Clarke Medal shortly before death. A picture from Waverley Cemetery, where he's buried, is shown. Louis Pasteur (1822–1895): French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. James Dwight Dana (1813–1895): geologist, mineralogist, and zoologist. He received the Copley Medal, Wollaston Medal, and the Clarke Medal. He also wrote a book titled Science and the Bible and his faith has been described as "both orthodox and intense". James Prescott Joule (1818–1889): studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after James Joule. John William Dawson (1820–1899): Canadian geologist who was the first president of the Royal Society of Canada and served as president of both the British and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A presbyterian, he spoke against Darwin's theory and came to write The Origin of the World, According to Revelation and Science (1877) where he put together his theological and scientific views. Armand David (1826–1900): Catholic missionary to China and member of the Lazarists who considered his religious duties to be his principal concern. He was also a botanist with the author abbreviation David and as a zoologist he described several species new to the West. Joseph Lister (1827–1912): British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. He raised as a Quaker; he subsequently left the Quakers and joined the Scottish Episcopal Church.

== 20th century (1901–2000) ==
According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) 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.