Sep 4
I was quite piqued to find the other day that the Vatican has it's own observatory -
the Vatican Observatory and that the chief astronomer is also the (or maybe one of the many) scientific advisor to the pope.
Some more details:
The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical research institutes in the world. Headquartered at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, outside Rome, the observatory has an extension on Mount Graham in Arizona that is home to the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope.
Interesting. Religion and science. How do they manage the contradiction? Ok, the contradiction that
I see.
Well, seems they don't see any contradiction. They
even claim that
they have always been involved in science. They say
Copernicus to be their own, however wikipedia does mention that Copernicus might have been
a wee bit worried about the religious fraternity before publishing his finds.
Interestingly, the chief astronomer of Vatican believes in the big bang theory and see no contradiction with his faith.
And unlike many of us, who would simply be excited to know that ET exists, the chief's vision of the possibility of ET is, well, keeping with his faith. :)
Funes, who runs the observatory that is based south of Rome and in Arizona, held out the possibility that the human race might actually be the "lost sheep" of the universe. There could be other beings "who remained in full friendship with their creator," he said.
Sometimes, I think I am too simple minded to understand faith.
