---
title: "List of Christians in science and technology"
chunk: 8/17
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"
---

== 21st century (2001–2100) ==
Sir Robert Boyd (1922–2004): pioneer in British space science who was vice president of the Royal Astronomical Society. He lectured on faith being a founder of the "Research Scientists' Christian Fellowship" and an important member of its predecessor Christians in Science. Richard Smalley (1943–2005): Nobel laureate in Chemistry known for buckyballs. In his last years he renewed an interest in Christianity and supported Old Earth Creationism
Mariano Artigas (1938–2006): had doctorates in both physics and philosophy. He belonged to the European Association for the Study of Science and Theology and also received a grant from the Templeton Foundation for his work in the area of science and religion. J. Laurence Kulp (1921–2006): Plymouth Brethren member who led major studies on the effects of nuclear fallout and acid rain. He was a prominent advocate in American Scientific Affiliation circles in favor of an Old Earth and against flood geology. Arthur Peacocke (1924–2006): Anglican priest and biochemist, his ideas may have influenced Anglican and Lutheran views of evolution. Winner of the 2001 Templeton Prize
John Billings (1918–2007): Australian physician who developed the Billings ovulation method of Natural family planning. In 1969, Billings was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG) by Pope Paul VI. Russell L. Mixter (1906–2007): noted for leading the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) away from anti-evolutionism, and for his advocacy of progressive creationism. C. F. von Weizsäcker (1912–2007): German nuclear physicist who is the co-discoverer of the Bethe–Weizsäcker formula. His The Relevance of Science: Creation and Cosmogony concerned Christian and moral impacts of science. He headed the Max Planck Society from 1970 to 1980. After that he retired to be a Christian pacifist. Peter E. Hodgson (1928–2008): British physicist, was one of the first to identify the K meson and its decay into three pions, and a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Culture. Stanley Jaki (1924–2009): Benedictine priest and Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, who won a Templeton Prize and advocated the idea modern science could only have arisen in a Christian society. Norman Borlaug (1914–2009): American agricultural scientist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Nicola Cabibbo (1935–2010): Italian physicist, discoverer of the universality of weak interactions (Cabibbo angle), president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1993 until his death. Allan Sandage (1926–2010): astronomer who did not really study Christianity until after age forty. He wrote the article A Scientist Reflects on Religious Belief and made discoveries concerning the Cigar Galaxy. Ernan McMullin (1924–2011): ordained in 1949 as a catholic priest, McMullin was a philosopher of science who taught at the University of Notre Dame. McMullin wrote on the relationship between cosmology and theology, the role of values in understanding science, and the impact of science on Western religious thought, in books such as Newton on Matter and Activity (1978) and The Inference that Makes Science (1992). He was also an expert on the life of Galileo. McMullin also opposed intelligent design and defended theistic evolution. Edmund Kornfeld (1919–2012): American biochemist who discovered the antibiotic medication vancomycin. Joseph Murray (1919–2012): Catholic surgeon who pioneered transplant surgery. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990. Ian Barbour (1923–2013): physicist who wrote Christianity and the Scientists in 1960, and When Science Meets Religion ISBN 0-06-060381-X in 2000. Walter Thirring (1927–2014): Austrian physicist after whom the Thirring model in quantum field theory is named. He is the son of the physicist Hans Thirring, co-discoverer of the Lense-Thirring frame dragging effect in general relativity. He also wrote Cosmic Impressions: Traces of God in the Laws of Nature. Edward Nelson (1932–2014): American mathematician known for his work on mathematical physics and mathematical logic. In mathematical logic, he was noted especially for his internal set theory, and views on ultrafinitism and the consistency of arithmetic. He also wrote on the relationship between religion and mathematics. Charles H. Townes (1915–2015): in 1964 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics and in 1966 he wrote The Convergence of Science and Religion. Rod Davies (1930–2015): professor of radio astronomy at the University of Manchester. He was the president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1987–1989, and director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in 1988–97. He is best known for his research on the cosmic microwave background and the 21 cm line. R. J. Berry (1934–2018): former president of both the Linnean Society of London and the "Christians in Science" group. He wrote God and the Biologist: Personal Exploration of Science and Faith (Apollos 1996) ISBN 0-85111-446-6 He taught at University College London for over 20 years. Peter Grünberg (1939–2018): German physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Albert Fert of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disk drives
Martin Bott (1926–2018): British geologist and now emeritus professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Durham, England. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1976 and was the 1992 recipient of the Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of America. Richard H. Bube (1927–2018): emeritus professor of the material sciences at Stanford University. He was a prominent member of the American Scientific Affiliation. Derek Burke (1930–2019): British academic and molecular biologist. Formerly a vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia. Specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology since 1985. George Coyne (1933–2020): Jesuit astronomer and former director of the Vatican Observatory. Katherine Johnson (1918–2020): space scientist, physicist, and mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. She was portrayed as a lead character in the film Hidden Figures. Freeman Dyson (1923–2020): English-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, known for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. John T. Houghton (1931–2020): British atmospheric physicist who was the co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scientific assessment working group. He was professor in atmospheric physics at the University of Oxford and former director general at the Met Office. John D. Barrow (1952–2020): English cosmologist based at the University of Cambridge who did notable writing on the implications of the Anthropic principle. He is a United Reformed Church member and won the Templeton Prize in 2006. He once held the position of Gresham Professor of Astronomy as well as Gresham Professor of Geometry. Henri Fontaine (1924–2020): French Roman Catholic missionary, pre-Tertiary geologist/paleontologist, Paleozoic corals specialist, and archaeologist. John Polkinghorne (1930–2021): British particle physicist and Anglican priest who wrote Science and the Trinity (2004) ISBN 0-300-10445-6. He was professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge prior to becoming a priest. Winner of the 2002 Templeton Prize. Antony Hewish (1924–2021): British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with 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. Hewish was a Christian.