Contrary to the popular narrative that science and faith are incompatible, an analysis of Nobel Prize winners reveals that the overwhelming majority of the world's leading scientists maintain belief in God, with many explicitly acknowledging that the complexity, fine-tuning, and rationality of the universe point to an intelligent Creator.
The study entitled 100 Years of Nobel Prizes analysed the
beliefs of all Nobel Laureates since the prize's inception from 1901 till the
year 2000. The findings revealed that 90% of all Nobel Prize winners
identified with a religion. Notably, 35% of the recipients of the Nobel
Prize in Literature were atheists, as compared with only 10% among scientists. (1) This data clearly shows that the world's leading scientists are by a huge
proportion not atheists. Despite the widespread perception that science and
belief in God are at odds (2), the evidence indicates that many of the most
accomplished scientific minds have maintained faith in a divine Creator.
Key Quotations from World's Top Scientists
Antony Hewish (1924–2021):
Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge and 1974 Nobel laureate in
Physics for the discovery of pulsars:
"I believe in God. It makes no
sense to me to assume that the universe and our existence is just a cosmic
accident, that life emerged due to random physical processes in an environment
which simply happened to have the right properties. [...] God certainly seems
to be a rational Creator. That the entire terrestrial world is made from
electrons, protons and neutrons and that a vacuum is filled with virtual
particles demands incredible rationality." (3)
Alfred Kastler (1902–1984)
Winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physics and a pioneer of optical
pumping (laser foundations):
"The idea that the world, the
material universe, created itself, seems to me patently absurd. I do not
conceive of the world without a creator, which is to say without a God. For a
physicist, a single atom is so complicated, so pregnant with intelligence, that
the materialist universe simply makes no sense." Again: "There
is no chance of explaining the emergence of life and its evolution by the
interaction of chance forces. Other forces are at work." (4)
Roger Penrose (1931–)
Professor of Mathematics at Oxford and winner of the 2020 Nobel
Prize in Physics:
"But in order to start off the
universe in a state of low entropy – so that there will indeed be a second law
of thermodynamics – the Creator must aim for a much tinier volume of the phase
space." [argument and calculations omitted] "This now tells us
how precise the Creator's aim must have been: namely to an accuracy of one part
in 10 to the power of 10^123. This is an extraordinary figure. [...] Even if we
were to write a '0' on each separate proton and on each separate neutron in the
entire universe – and we could throw in all the other particles as well for
good measure – we should fall far short of writing down the figure
needed." (5)
Arthur Schawlow (1921–1999)
Professor at Stanford, co-inventor of the laser, 1981 Nobel
laureate in Physics:
"The world is just so wonderful
that I can't imagine it just having come by pure chance." (6)
Richard Feynman (1918–1988)
Physicist and pioneer of quantum electrodynamics, 1965 Nobel
laureate in Physics:
"There is a most profound and
beautiful question associated with the observed coupling constant, e – the
amplitude for a real electron to emit or absorb a real photon. It is a simple
number that has been experimentally determined to be close to 0.08542455. [...]
It has been a mystery ever since it was discovered more than fifty years ago,
and all good theoretical physicists put this number up on their wall and worry
about it. [...] It's one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic
number that comes to us with no understanding by man. You might say the 'hand
of God' wrote that number..." (7)
Christian Anfinsen (1916–1995)
Professor of Chemistry at Harvard and winner of the 1972 Nobel
Prize in Chemistry:
"I think only an idiot can be an
atheist. We must admit that there exists an incomprehensible power or force
with limitless foresight and knowledge that started the whole universe going in
the first place." (8)
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976)
Originator of quantum mechanics and 1932 Nobel laureate in
Physics:
"Atomic physics has turned
science away from the materialistic trend it had during the nineteenth
century." (9)
William D. Phillips (1948–)
Specialist in laser cooling of atoms and 1997 Nobel laureate in
Physics:
"Why is the universe so finely
tuned for the existence of life? More to the point, why is the universe so
finely tuned for the existence of us? [...] Does this constitute legitimate
scientific evidence for an intelligent creator?..." (10)
Robert Millikan (1868–1953)
Physicist who measured the electron's charge and the Planck
constant, 1923 Nobel laureate in Physics:
"A lifetime of scientific
research has convinced me that there is a divinity who is shaping the destiny
of man." (11)
Robert Jastrow (1925–2008)
Astrophysicist, professor at Columbia, and director of NASA:
"For the scientist who has lived
by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has
scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as
he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians
who have been sitting there for centuries." (12)
Richard Smalley (1943–2005)
Professor of Chemistry at Rice University and 1996 Nobel laureate
in Chemistry:
"Although I suspect I will never
fully understand, I now think the answer is very simple: it's true. God did
create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago, and of necessity has involved
Himself with His creation ever since. The purpose of this universe is something
that only God knows for sure, but it is increasingly clear to modern science
that the universe was exquisitely fine-tuned to enable human life." (13)
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961)
Physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics (1933):
"The scientific picture of the
real world around me is very deficient. It gives a lot of factual information,
puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly
silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really
matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet,
physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly,
good or bad, God and eternity." (14)
Charles Townes (1915–2015)
Physicist, professor at the University of California, Berkeley,
winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics, and former NASA director:
"I strongly believe in the
existence of God, based on intuition, observations, logic, and also scientific
knowledge." (15)
George Smoot (1945–)
Astrophysicist and cosmologist, professor at Berkeley, Nobel
laureate in Physics 2006:
"The most cataclysmic event that
we could imagine – the Big Bang – appears, when closely examined, to be
precisely orchestrated." (16) On the detailed images provided by the WMAP
satellite, he said: "If you're religious, it's like looking at God. The
order is so beautiful and the symmetry so beautiful that you think there is
some design behind it." (17) Later, in 2006, upon receiving the Nobel Prize
for his work: "It is like seeing God... I saw the Universe at its very
beginning, I saw the anisotropy that allowed the Universe to exist." (18)
(Taken from the book: 'God: There is No Doubt!')
(1) Baruch Aba Shalev, 100 Years of Nobel Prizes.
(2) Time Magazine ran major story entitled Modernizing the Case for God: “In a quiet revolution in thought and argument that hardly anybody could have foreseen only two decades ago, (belief in) God is making a comeback. Most intriguingly, this is happening not among theologians or ordinary believers, but in the crisp intellectual circles of academic philosophers, where the consensus had long banished the Almighty from fruitful discourse” http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921990,00.html
(3) Antony Hewish, letters to T. Dimitrov, May 27 and June 14, 2002.
(4) Alfred Kastler, Cette étrange matière.
(5) Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics. Oxford University Press.
(6) Arthur Schawlow, Optics and Laser Spectroscopy, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1951-
1961, and Stanford University Since 1961, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library.
(7) Richard P. Feynman, QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, Princeton University Press.
(8) Anfinsen, cited in Cosmos, Bios, Theos, ed. Henry Margenau and Roy A. Varghese (Chicago: Open Court, 1997), 139.
(9) Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science, George Allen & Unwin, p. 59.
(10) Science and the Search for Meaning, Perspectives from International Scientists, ed. Jean Staune (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2006), 198.
(11) The Autobiography of Robert A. Millikan, Arno Press. As cited in the Observance of Rural Life Sunday by 4-H Clubs, 1952: Theme, Serving as Loyal Citizens Through 4-H (United States Department of Agriculture Extension Service).
(12) Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, W. W. Norton.
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/25/archives/have-astronomers-found-god-theologians-aredelighted-that-the.html.
(13) Letter read at the Alumni Weekend banquet, May 2005, Hope College, Holland, Michigan. His declining health prevented him from attending in person.
(14) Erwin Schrödinger, Nature and the Greeks. Cambridge University Press, p. 93.
(15) Charles Townes, letter to T. Dimitrov, May 24, 2002.
(16) George Smoot and Keay Davidson, Wrinkles In Time: The Imprint of Creation, p. 135
(17) As reported by Rae Corelli, Marci McDonald, and Hilary Mackenzie, “‘Looking at God,’” Maclean’s, May 4, 1992, 38–39, available at https://web.archive.org/web/20221229200538/ https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1992/5/4/looking-at-God.
(18) George Smoot and Keay Davidson, Wrinkles In Time: The Imprint of Creation, p.135.
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