Introduction to 2013 version: When Brother Steve Taylor asked that I give a
talk indicating that I could choose my own topic or one that he might suggest I
took the matter up with my wife Julie.
She thought it would be a good idea for me to reprise a talk I gave
almost twenty years ago in the old Newark ward at the request of Bishop Jim
Melby. Always generous, she said it was
a favorite of hers and would like to hear it again. I am sure Bishop Davis will support me in
saying that one should always pay careful attention to the counsel of the
Relief Society President. So with
apologies to those few of you who may have heard this before (and doubtless
remember every word I said) I will follow her advice. The topic Bishop Melby asked me to address
was Science and Religion. As an active member of the Church who has spent over
forty years doing research in chemistry and teaching chemistry, it is a topic
of some personal interest to me. I will
first talk a little about science and how it works (from my point of view) before
considering some questions that come up from time to time about science and
religion (also from my point of view). I
will conclude with some remarks about my own beliefs and testimony. I give my remarks several alternative titles,
namely:
Faith and Science
or
Faith and the Music of the Spheres
or
Faith and Fecundity and the Boy Scouts of America
Douglas P. Ridge
If you pluck a guitar string it vibrates producing a
tone at its natural pitch. Sometimes, if
plucked just right, the string can be made to vibrate an octave higher than its
natural fundamental pitch. This is
called the first harmonic and corresponds to a frequency of oscillation that is
twice the fundamental frequency. The
string might also be made to vibrate at three times its fundamental
frequency. This is the second harmonic
and it corresponds to a pitch an octave and a fifth above the fundamental. If you could closely examine the string when
it is vibrating at its fundamental frequency or fundamental pitch, you would
say that the whole string vibrates. Close
examination of a string vibrating at its first harmonic, up an octave from the
fundamental, would reveal that there is a point exactly in the middle of the
string that is not vibrating. On either
side of this point at rest the string vibrates up and down at the first
harmonic frequency. When vibrating at
its second harmonic, up an octave and a fifth, there are two rest points in the
string. The rest points divide the
string into three equal parts. Between
the rest points the string vibrates at three times the fundamental
frequency. Thus the location and number
of the points at rest depends on which harmonic the string is producing. When a drumhead is struck it can similarly
give sound at either its natural fundamental pitch or at higher harmonics. If colored powder is placed on the drumhead
as it vibrates, the powder will collect along lines where the surface is at
rest, making visible lines separating the vibrating regions. There are patterns
of lines characteristic of each harmonic.
For each higher pitched harmonic there are several possible patterns,
but these patterns are not random. They
are quite specific. If one were to make
a spherical drum, it would have a fundamental pitch and higher harmonics. A perfectly elastic balloon might be an
example of a spherical drum. When
vibrating at a harmonic pitch there would be lines across the surface of the
sphere that would be at rest, separating regions that are vibrating. These lines of rest create patterns on the
spherical surface characteristic of each harmonic. Newton's laws of motion, when applied to the
vibrating motions of a spherical surface, give mathematical formulae describing
the characteristic surface patterns corresponding to the various harmonic
vibrations. These formulae are called
spherical harmonics.
In the early part of this century a number of
puzzling observations about the interaction of light with matter led to the
invention of something called quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is a set of mathematical
rules for describing the motion of very small objects like atoms. When applied to atoms, the rules of quantum
mechanics require, amazingly enough, that the arrangements of electrons about
the nucleus of an atom be described by the same spherical harmonics that
describe the vibrations of a spherical drum.
Using the properties of the spherical harmonics quantum mechanics
accounts for the arrangement of the elements in the Periodic Table, the fact
that the water molecule is bent, the fact that the oxygen molecule is magnetic
and the nitrogen molecule is not, the fact that some materials are transparent
and others reflect light of different colors.
Quantum Mechanics using the properties of spherical harmonics accounts
for the sharp lines that appear in the rainbow spectrum of sunlight viewed
through a glass prism. Quantum
Mechanics, using the properties of the spherical harmonics, has made it
possible to develop the solid state electronic devices that in turn make modern
digital computers possible .... and to develop lasers that perform the most
delicate surgery and that price our groceries .... and to develop methods to
make new drugs to treat our diseases and improve our health.
This is the way science works. Scientists attempt to connect the many facets
of our experience with nature and summarize them in as few mathematical rules
as possible. These rules become the laws
of science. These rules are valuable to
the scientist because they can predict observations or measurements yet to be
made, and they can relate one set of observations to another set of seemingly
unconnected observations. The rules are
useful because they help us order enormous numbers of observations in such a
way that we can have more power to manipulate and control nature. These rules efficiently summarize how the
world appears to work. What they tell us
is how the world works. What they
do not tell us, however, is why the world works and whether it has some
higher purpose.
The success of scientific methods in ordering our
observations of the physical world without specific reference to God or
religious principles might appear to justify doubts about whether faith in God
and faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ have a place in the modern
world. A particular question frequently posed is whether the current scientific
view of the origins of the universe, the origins of life and the origins of man
are consistent with the account of the Creation in Genesis and the Pearl of
Great Price. This is not a question that
I have ever found to be vexing. The
evidence supporting the scientific view of the origin of the universe and the
evolution of life is impressive. There
will be changes in that view as more observations are made, but I see no reason
to expect that its essential features will change.
On the other hand, Genesis assures us in its first
verse that God created the Heavens and the Earth. Science offers a view of how the universe as
we see it came to be. Genesis assures us
that however it came to be it was the handiwork of God, Our Father in Heaven,
who created it as a dwelling place and a testing place for His children. A place where we come to learn to live by
faith, to come to Him by faith, to see His hand in all things by faith, and to
return to live with Him by faith. We find Him through the prayer of faith and a
life of faith. We find Him by using the
agency He gave us to act unselfishly ... defying all the fundamental laws of
nature in doing so.
I believe that the scientific view of our origins is
true in that it is consistent with all the evidence we have collected with our
physical senses. I believe the Genesis
reveals the truth of God's purposes for the earth as a place to carry out His
work: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. If science and Genesis were to appear to me
to contradict one another, then I would have to conclude that my understanding
of one or the other or both is incorrect or incomplete.
The story of the restoration also gives
rise to questions. Many hold that modern science precludes the kind miraculous
divine intervention in our affairs that Joseph Smith claimed. As unlikely as Joseph’s stories may seem, his
legacy gives the scientifically inclined much to consider. The power and complexity of the Book of
Mormon and the continued vitality and resilience of the Church provide a
testimony not readily dismissed. But
like the creation, the hand of God in the restoration reveals itself only
through the prayer of faith and a life of faith.
God is both wiser and smarter than either Einstein
or Darwin. God created the world for us
to learn to live by faith, and in that the wise and learned have no special
advantage. It is a wonder to me that the
world has been put together in such a way that no philosophical or scientific
investigation unambiguously reveals God’s hand in it. Indeed such undeniable evidence would only
serve to condemn us in our human frailty.
Yet, however we may have evolved, we have a marvelous capacity to see
and understand the wonders of creation and through the least gift of faith to
find inspiration and strength in its beauties.
Only by faith can the footprints of the Creator be discovered in the
connection between the spherical harmonics and the Periodic Table, or in the
uniqueness of the strange creatures Darwin found on the Galapagos Islands.
Scientists seem to me to be just like everyone else
in that signs follow them that believe.
The believing scientist finds cause for wonder, awe and humility in his
observations and in the startling connections, stunning simplicity or dazzling
diversity nature offers when viewed through the glass of science.
I have always thought that it was wonderful that the
spherical harmonics keep turning up in strange and seemingly disconnected
places, such as the behavior of an oscillating sphere, the magnetism of oxygen,
and the rainbow spectrum of sunlight. I
find myself wondering if there is something of the divine in it. Perhaps it is connected (and scientists love
connections) to the Psalm: "The heavens declare the Glory of God and the
firmament sheweth his handiwork."
A foreign student with whom I had worked for a number
of years once shared some views about faith with me. He knew something of my Church life and had
read a little in the Book of Mormon I keep in the lab in case someone might be
interested. He found it difficult to
believe that I could believe in such things as Joseph Smith's story of the
origin of the Book of Mormon. "You
are a scientist," he said, "You are a well-educated person. I do not see how you could believe these
kinds of things. But," he said,
"You have all those children and you go camping in the mountains with the
Boy Scouts. You are not the kind of
person to do these things. I guess you
must believe." I had difficulty
deciding quite what to make of that statement.
I have learned, however, that people struggling to speak in a language not
their own sometimes speak the truth with unintended candor. My student was
right. I do believe. I believe that the hand of the Lord is
evident in all things. I can offer no
better evidence of my belief than that suggested by my young colleague except,
perhaps, my odd enthusiasm for finding the hand of God in the Beauty of the
connection of the spherical harmonics with so many facets of the world He has
created for us.
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