Science, Faith and Culture: Pursuing truth in a divided world
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Not a legend in his own time
I would have been tempted to make the same error if I were in his shoes. Students in my PhD graduate research group were taking turns practicing our research talks for the upcoming national conference. One of the newest students introduced his topic, discussed background information and described what he had done. So far, so…
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It’s good to be wrong
I looked at the phosphor screen dumbfounded. Several months previously I had confidently predicted I would never see this. Yet, there it was in front of me. I rotated the sample 60 degrees, and the pattern reversed, just as expected. I had a good, logical reason why this shouldn’t have happened. But I could see…
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Implications of the Big Bang
Albert Einstein later called it ‘the greatest blunder’ of his life, at least that is how the story goes. At the beginning of the 20th century many astronomers assumed that the universe was static and unchanging. For good reasons. They had found the distances between stars to be mind-boggling and no evidence of them moving…
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The gift of dual perspective
At least I think it is a fun way to end the semester. Looking through 3-D glasses at an astronaut. Passing around a View Master. Looking at both sides of the coin at once. Trying to see the 3-D image in a Magic Eye illustration. But of course, I have a really good academic justification…
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An existential question of truth
I was afraid to open up about my true, inner thoughts. In my church youth group I had been paired up with an adult volunteer. Not just any guy, but a seminary student studying to be a professional religious person. On the outside that surely looked like a good idea. My father served as a…