Freeman
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- Sep 30, 2009
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Good article.
Most Scientists Believe in God
many (and perhaps most) of the truly greatest scientists in history were also devoutly religious: Michael Faraday, Nicolaus Copernicus, Gregor Mendel, Francis Bacon, Blaise Pascal, Sir Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Johannes Kepler, Max Planck, Renes Descartes and Werner Karl Heisenberg, to name just a few.
"Statistical data on Nobel prize winners in science between 1901 and 2000 revealed that atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers have won 7.1% of the prizes in chemistry, 8.9% in medicine, and 4.7% in physics; while Christians have won a total of 72.5% of the prizes in chemistry, 65.3% in physics, 62% in medicine and Jews have won 17.3% of the prizes in chemistry, 26.2% in medicine, and 25.9% in physics."
I’m assuming the obvious distinction made in the study between “atheists, agnostics and freethinkers” and “Christians and Jews” would also indicate that said Christians and Jews were indeed believers, and not just identifying themselves thus in a strictly ethnic sense.
Mr. Quandy sensibly goes on to point out how much greater even those percentages would have been if the study had included practicing Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists (which, combined, I believe account for about half the planet). I don’t at all understand why it didn’t, quite honestly.
a 2009 Pew Research poll click here put the percentage of scientists who believe in some form of deity or higher power at 51% (which, technically, as any scientist will tell you, is "most".)
Most Scientists Believe in God