"Before he died, Stiph [sic] Hawkins [sic] who did not believe in God requested to visit the Vatican. "Now l believe" was the only statement he made after the Holy Father blessed him." Continue reading

Black holes, one of the most mystifying phenomena in the universe, are the epitome of camera-shy.

The gravity of these extremely dense points in space is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. But with the right setup and powerful technology, humanity could catch a glimpse of one.

Astronomers are still analyzing the data, and they hope to make their results public sometime this year.

The final photograph, if they got it, would be the first-ever picture of a black hole. So far, scientists have detected black holes only indirectly.

They have observed stars spinning violently around an empty void, and recorded the waves in the fabric of space-time from distant cosmic collisions.

An image of a black hole would be the ultimate proof that these things actually exist.

And the people behind this effort really wish Stephen Hawking were around to see it.

Hawking, the English theoretical physicist, died Wednesday at his home in Cambridge, England, at the age of 76. He gave the world many important contributions to the study of the universe, but he is perhaps best known in the field for his work on the properties of black holes.

His tremendous intellect, boundless curiosity, and best-selling books inspired a generation of astronomers and physicists who have devoted their careers to studying these invisible objects.

After the news of Hawking's death, I emailed several astrophysicists who study black holes about their reactions.

For them, the thought that Hawking will not see the potential photographic evidence of a black hole is heart-wrenching.

"For some people, seeing really is believing, so we were hoping to get something in time," said Shep Doeleman, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Continue reading

• Image: The Atlantic

Hawking was an esteemed member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

St John Paul II named Hawking a member of the Academy in 1986. Its members are chosen on the basis of their academic credentials and professional expertise, not religious beliefs.

Hawking asserted that God had no role in creating the universe.

Yet his atheism did not keep him from engaging in dialogue and debate with the church.

The Vatican says the theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author helped foster a "fruitful dialogue" between science and faith.

"We are deeply saddened about the passing of our remarkable Academician Stephen Hawking who was so faithful to our Academy," tweeted the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Hawking was decorated by the Academy on 19 April 1975 with the Pius XI medal for his studies on "black holes".

He met four Popes in the course of his Academy work: Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

"He told the 4 Popes he met that he wanted to advance the relationship between Faith and Scientific Reason. We pray the Lord to welcome him in his glory," @CasinaPioIV, the Academy, tweeted last week.

The Vatican observatory, @SpecolaVaticana, also expressed its condolences to Hawking's family.

"We value the enormous scientific contribution he has made to quantum cosmology and the courage he had in facing illness," the Observatory tweeted in Italian.

Hawking was 76 when he died. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21.

His view on his illness and the way people should live may be summed up in the following statement he made:

"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.

"Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

"And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

"It matters that you don't just give up."

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Zenit
• Catholic Herald
• The Boston Pilot
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Hawking and other scientists were attending the Pontifical Academy of Sciences symposium.

The symposium focused on scientific knowledge and technology's impact on people and the planet.

Although Pope Francis and Hawking have opposing religious beliefs, they connect with their concern for the environment.

The Pope praised his brilliant work.

Francis also had praise for the science community for collaborating with religious leaders in stopping climate change.

"It falls to scientists, who work free of political, economic or ideological interests, to develop a cultural model ...

"[The model must be able to] face the crisis of climatic change and its social consequences, so that the vast potential of productivity will not be reserved only for the few," he said.

He also asked the scientists to find ways protect the environment.

Francis highlighted the need to use their imaginations to create solutions.

He also stressed the urgency of the work to protect the planet.

He hopes scientists will create a "normative system" (ie ideal standard or model) to protect ecosystems. This system will include strictly maintained benchmarks.

He urged them to cooperate to produce this work "before harm is caused to environment and worse, to the societies of the world".

Humanity does not own God's gift of creation and has no right to pillage it, he said.

"We are not custodians of a museum and its masterpieces that we have to dust off every morning, but rather collaborators in the conservation and development of the existence and biodiversity of the planet and human life," he added.
Source

• Catholic Herald
• Daily Mail Australia
• Parent Herald
• DW
• The Pilot
• Image: Catholic Herald

I had the privilege of working with him for five years. He was the author of more than 50 books and over 400 articles.

He was the recipient of many honours, most notably as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and as a winner (in the company of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) of the Templeton Prize, given for outstanding progress in religion.

Never was the witness of Fr Jaki more needed than now. The present time seems to be open season for scientists to attack Christianity. The media devote much time to promoting programmes featuring Dawkins, Hawking, Dennett, Harris and Atkins, to name only the usual suspects.

What is needed is a rebuttal of their errors on the relationship between science and religion, something all the more necessary for good and faithful Catholics. This is something that Fr Jaki's works are perfectly set up to do.

Yet he has been sadly neglected when what is needed in the battle against the so-called New Atheists is a series of simple and direct responses for which he was so renowned.

I recall a perfect example of this when Fr Jaki and a philosopher, a Fellow of one of the Oxford colleges, were having a conversation. The philosopher announced that he didn't believe in free will and was a determinist.

Fr Jaki immediately asked of him: "Did you say that freely?" Result: a series of stutters and the response: "I'll have to get back to you on that!"

So here is a short attempt to cover a number of basic principles, all taken from Fr Jaki's writings, that are crucial to arguing our corner in the debate on science and religion. It begins with an appreciation of the nature of science, by which Fr Jaki means, of course, exact science, notably physics, astronomy and chemistry. Continue reading

Source and Image:

• Catholic Herald UK, from an article by John Beaumont, a freelance writer and legal consultant.

Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, Ph.D., 62, is president of the Magis Center (www.magiscenter.com), headquartered in the new chancery office of the Diocese of Orange, California.

The center's goal is to demonstrate that faith and reason and science are compatible, and to combat the increasing secularization of society, particularly among young people.

Fr. Spitzer was born and reared in Honolulu, Hawaii.

His father was an attorney and businessman; he was one of five children.

His father was Lutheran; his mother a Catholic and daily communicant.

He attended college at Jesuit-run Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, initially pursuing a career in public accounting and finance.

He went on a retreat led by Fr. Gerard Steckler, a former chaplain for Thomas Aquinas College, and "he got me very interested in theology and the Church."

He began attending daily Mass and taking classes in theology and Scripture.

He bought a copy of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica from a used book store and began reading it. "I saw the solidity of faith in the light of reason," he said, "and once that happened, I was ready to go."

He joined the Society of Jesus in 1974, and was ordained a priest in 1983.

Fr. Spitzer is the author of several books, including Healing the Culture (Ignatius Press, 2000), Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life (Ignatius Press, 2008), New Proofs for the Existence of God (Eerdmans, 2010), and Ten Universal Principles (Ignatius Press, 2010), as well as numerous articles for scholarly journals, and has delivered hundreds of lectures.

He is a teacher, and served as president of Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009.

He continues to produce an enormous volume of work despite suffering from poor eyesight throughout his adult life (he has not, for example, been able to drive a car for 30 years), which has gotten worse in recent years.

Fr. Spitzer recently spoke with CWR. Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report
• Image: Two Handed Warriors

"It's a big deal. It's like finding a needle in a haystack—the sense of discovery is hugely exciting" said Dr. Bond, who led the team of researchers from Massey, Auckland, Canterbury and Victoria Universities, as well as from Japan and the United States. "It has profound implications and opens a new chapter in the history of the Milky Way."

On May 18 in in the same paper, the famous physicist Stephen Hawkings declared he finds no room for heaven in his vision of the cosmos. Comparing the human brain to a computer he said "there is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers."

It seems that the universe is growing bigger with escalating and exciting possibilities while Hawking's vision has stalled, for isn't this the man who asked the famous question: "What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?", says Catherine Hannan

Read about Ian Bond's discovery

Image: Flickyr

Hawking, diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease at 21, is now aged 69.

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he told the Guardian newspaper. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

Hawking's comments go beyond those laid out in his 2010 book, "The Grand Design" which provoked a backlash from religious leaders for arguing there was no need for a divine force to explain the creation of the universe.

Hawking joined others including the chancellor, George Osborne, and the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, at the Google Zeitgeist London event where he addressed the question: "Why are we here?"

His talk was focussed on M-theory, a broad mathematical framework that encompasses string theory, which is regarded by many physicists as the best hope yet of developing a theory of everything.

M-theory demands a universe with 11 dimensions, including a dimension of time and the three familiar spatial dimensions. The rest are curled up too small for us to see.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Image: Sound on Sight