In 1915, an exceptionally bright Italian youngster walked the two miles from his home to the Campo dei Fiori in Rome to hunt for science books in the weekly market fair. His step was determined and his face was grim. His countenance hid the fact that he was trying to recover from a great tragedy, the sudden death of his brother who had been his closest companion. Science would provide respite from his grief.
The Campo dei Fiori was the same place where the 16th century friar Giordano Bruno had been burnt for his heretical beliefs regarding multiple universes and Copernican astronomy. The boy mostly found books on theology and other topics which did not interest him, but tucked away in the heap was a two-volume compendium on physics by a Jesuit priest named Andrea Caraffa. Written in 1840, the volume expounded on all the classical physics that had been known until then. It was better than nothing and the boy bought it with the meager allowance he had saved. Taking it home he devoured it, not even noticing that it had been written in Latin.
Thus was launched Enrico Fermi's momentous career in physics. There is something exceedingly poignant about the fact that Italy's most famous scientific son found his life's bearings in a book written by a member of the Catholic Church, the same institution which three hundred years earlier had sent a scientific heretic to his death in exactly the same location.
They have just elected a new Jesuit pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who has taken the name Francis. In the coming days the media will undoubtedly scrutinize his views on everything ranging from women in the church to the recent sex scandals. On my part I would be interested in his views on science and on evolution and cosmology in particular. I do not know what Pope Francis specifically thinks about these topics. But the story of Andrea Caraffa inspiring young Enrico Fermi gives me hope that the new Pope will look kindly toward science. Something else makes me even more hopeful: the new Pope has a degree in chemistry.*
Wikipedia has a list of Jesuit scientists going back to the 17th century. These Jesuits delved into topics across the spectrum of science, although astronomers seem to be especially prominent among them. There's Giovanni Zup who discovered the orbital phases of Mercury, Giovanni Saccheri who wrote on Non-Euclidean geometry, Benito Vines who was known as 'Father Hurricane' and Pierre Chardin who was involved in the discovery of Peking Man. Among the most prominent recent Jesuits is Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno. Many of these Jesuits studied at prominent universities and later occupied faculty positions themselves. Their contributions to and study of science would be consistent with the Jesuit emphasis on scholarship. In their missionary work Jesuits often took the message of science to people on other continents. For instance it was a Jesuit who helped found the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. Jesuits also introduced Western astronomy to China during their travels there and in turn brought back original Chinese research back to the West. Most prominently, Jesuits have founded many influential schools and colleges - including Georgetown University and Boston College - which emphasize teaching and research in science. Compared to other members of the Church, Jesuits' record on science is not bad at all.
