Brother Astronomer : Adventures of a Vatican Scientist

by Consolmagno, Guy

• ISBN13: 9780071354288
• ISBN10: 007135428X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-02-12
• Publisher: MCG

Summary

Ever since Galileo was forced to recant his proofs of a sun-centered solar system, the Roman Catholic Church has been considered hostile toward science. Not quite true, argues Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno in his moving and intellectually playful memoir of a life lived in the active interplay of science and religion.

Blending memoir, science, history, and theology, Consolmagno takes us on a grand adventure. We revisit the infamous "Galileo affair" and see that it didn't unfold in quite the way we thought. We get a rare glimpse into the world of working scientists and see how scientific discoveries are proposed and advanced. We learn the inside story of the "Mars meteorite": how can we be sure it's really from Mars, and why can't scientists agree on whether or not it contains evidence of life?

Brother Astronomer memorably sets forth one scientist's conviction that the universe may be worth study only if it is the work of a Creator God.

Author Biography

Brother Guy Consolmagno is an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory. He obtained his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona and went on to teach at MIT until 1983, when he joined the Peace Corps. After two years of teaching university and high-school physics in Kenya, he returned to the U.S. He took vows as a Jesuit brother in 1991, and since then has studied philosophy and theology at Loyola University, Chicago, and physics at the University of Chicago. He has also spent several terms as a visiting scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center and as a visiting professor at Loyola College, Baltimore, and Loyola University, Chicago. His area of expertise is in the study of small solar-system objects, such as moons, asteroids, and meteors. At the Vatican, he serves as curator of one of the largest meteorite collections in the world. Consolmagno's writing has appeared in numerous journals and magazines including Sky & Telescope, Leonardo Jesuits in Science, Ad Astra.

Table of Contents

Part One: Upon These Rocks.

Aliens at the Vatican.

The Case of the Fiery Fingers.

The Vindication of Mars.

The Confession of a Vatican Scientist.

Percursors of Evil.

The Rift of Popular Culture.

Finding God in Creation.

Part Three: Once in a Lifetime.

Holes in the Sand.

Call and Response.

Justice in the Oceans of Europa.

Would You Baptize an Extraterrestial?

Part Four: Wide Wild Whiteness.

Well Met at Ansmet.

Erebus and Terror.

Soul on Ice.

The Easter Egg Hunt.

Walking in Heaven.

We've Got Company.

Acquainted with All My Ways.

Hunting the White Elephant.

Northward HO! The Wagons.

Afterword: About This Book.