Great religious sicentists since the 20th century?

[Alfred001]

Have there been any great scientists since the 20th century who were religious? And I mean religious in the conventional sense of believing in some major religion, not religious in the kind of unorthodox way Einstein was.

[Strange]

Lots. The one who comes to mind immediately (just because he has talked a lot about his faith) is Paul Davies, the physicist. I expect most religious people just don’t make a big deal of it (probably true of most agnostics and atheists). There are a small number of anti-religious types who shout about religion a lot, which might give the impression that most scientists have similar views. 

[CharonY]

Depending on discipline scientists are often slightly less religious than the average, with biologists often at the lower end of scale, it still makes a sizeable proportion of religious folks in science. But unless they are in press for some reasons you'll unlikely to know as Strange said. Francis Collins is another prominent example. 

[dimreepr]

I often wonder why it matters; believe in the magic man, don't believe in the magic man, it has no real impact on society.

Now, alot of the anti-religious will no doubt bulk at that suggestion and I don't make it lightly.

If a scientist believes, he/she is very unlikely to buy into the political manipulations; and if a person is politically manipulated, he/she is unlikely (no scientist could be god) to relinquish that belief. 

Most of us believe, that which we are content to believe. 

Edited March 4, 2020 by dimreepr

[CharonY]

4 hours ago, dimreepr said:

If a scientist believes, he/she is very unlikely to buy into the political manipulations; and if a person is politically manipulated, he/she is unlikely (no scientist could be god) to relinquish that belief. 

I am not certain what you mean here, but looking at the US, there is a tight connection between political and religious belief (i.e. evangelists have heavily shaped Republican politics and vice versa). So it is certainly not an exclusive situation (rather the opposite). 

 

4 hours ago, dimreepr said:

I often wonder why it matters; believe in the magic man, don't believe in the magic man, it has no real impact on society.

It depends on the form of religiosity. The more abstract ones, which are better described as spirituality, sure. But there are also more fundamental/literal ones which, especially in the US have formed the (young Earth) creationist movement, which is blatantly anti-science. Believing that there is not evolution has critical impact on data interpretation, for example.

[Curious layman]

Mohamed Abdus Salam: Pakistani theoretical physicist. He won the 1979 Nobel prize with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for their work on electroweak unification theory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdus_Salam#Religion

Quote

Abdus Salam was an Ahmadi Muslim,^[36] who saw his religion as a fundamental part of his scientific work. He once wrote that "the Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah's created laws of nature; however, that our generation has been privileged to glimpse a part of His design is a bounty and a grace for which I render thanks with a humble heart."^[36]

During his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Physics, Salam quoted verses from the Quran and stated:

"Thou seest not, in the creation of the All-merciful any imperfection, Return thy gaze, seest thou any fissure? Then Return thy gaze, again and again. Thy gaze, Comes back to thee dazzled, aweary." [67:3–4] This, in effect, is the faith of all physicists; the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze.^[108]

 

[beecee]

And of course the "Father of the BB theory" the Belgian priest, Father George LaMaitre.