To the editor:
I was pleasantly surprised to find an article in the Catholic Herald that honored a science teacher, the late Joe Zaiman of Edgewood High School (October 20 issue, page 9).
I was taught in a Catholic school that there is no conflict between faith and science. In trying to spread this teaching, I like to point out that two of the greatest scientists of the 20th century were also Catholic priests.
One of these was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest as well as a geologist and paleontologist (fossil scientist). His most famous work was with human ancestors from 400,000 years ago. Since his death in 1955 the United Nations has honored him with two conferences, one in 1965 (that also honored Albert Einstein), and one in 1985.
Then there was Georges Lemaitre, who was a priest of the Archdiocese of Malines, Belgium. His work in physics in the 1920s and 1930s led to the Big Bang Theory. He took Einstein’s theory of relativity and followed it to a logical conclusion that other scientists were afraid to consider.
In the time of Galileo, some churchmen were afraid of science. But, as Teilhard de Chardin once said, “Faith has need of all the truth.”
Mark Midbon, Madison