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Credinta în Creator (mărturisiri de credintă ale unor mari oameni de stiintă)

[…] ” Majoritatea  oamenilor mari  de  stiintă  si-au  declarat  credinta,  trecând  peste  orgoliul  profesional.
Marele matematician  francez Cauchy  (1789-1857) spunea: “Eu sunt crestin, ca  toti marii astronomi, ca
toti marii  fizicieni si  toti marii geometri ai veacurilor trecute…Si dacă mi s-ar cere sa arat motivul, l-as arăta  cu  plăcere. S-ar  vedea că  convingerile  mele  sunt  rezultatul,  nu  al  unor  prejudecăti  ci  al  unei
cercetări adânci”.

Cât de departe suntem de dictonul “Crede si nu cerceta”, folosit tocmai de cei care nici nu credeau,
nici nu cercetau! Binot, fizician si astronom francez, vorbea despre prietenul  lui (Cauchy), astfel:  “L-am
văzut  străduindu-se să  facă  bine  în  jurul  lui, cu o  liniste plină de  încredere, pe care numai o credintă
adâncă o poate da. Fericit acela  în care Dumnezeu a voit astfel să unească bogătiile geniului cu acelea
ale inimii” .

Si iată si o declaratie a lui Faraday (1791-1867) – fondator al teoriei electromagnetismului – citată
de Pasteur la un discurs de receptie: “Cunoasterea si respectul lui Dumnezeu pătrund în mintea mea prin
căi tot asa de sigure ca acelea care ne conduc la adevărurile de ordin fizic”.

A.M.Ampere  (1775-1837)  –  un  alt  fondator  al  electromagnetismului  –  îsi  compusese  singur  o
rugăciune pe care o repeta zilnic: “Dumnezeule! Îti multumesc că m-ai creat, răscumpărat si iluminat cu
lumina Ta divină…Îti multumesc iarăsi de a mă fi readus la Tine după rătăcirile mele: eu simt că Tu vrei
ca eu să trăiesc pentru Tine si ca toate clipele vietii mele să-ti fie Tie consacrate”.

Iar  dr. N.C.Paulescu  (1869-1931),  profesor  si  fiziolog  român  (descoperitorul  insulinei),  spunea:
“Evanghelia Domnului Iisus Hristos este suprema  treaptă a stiintei. Nu numai că eu cred în Dumnezeu,
dar stiu cu certitudine că este Dumnezeu”.

  Copernic, Kepler, Galilei, Descartes, Bacon, Pascal, Leibniz, Newton, au fost credinciosi declarati.
La fel au fost unii mari astronomi (Laplace, Herschell, etc), mari matematicieni (Euler, Cauchy, Hermite
etc.),  mari  chimisti  (Lavoisier,  Berzelius,  Berthelot,  Gay-Lussac,  Thenard  etc.), mari  fizicieni  (Volta,
Ampere,  Faraday, Maxwell, William  Thomson  adică  Lordul  Kelvin  etc.).  Dar să  nu-l  uităm  pe marele
Einstein  (1879-1955).  Iată  chemarea  lui,  adresată  tuturor  oamenilor:  “Avem  o  religie  capabilă să
ferească  lumea de  toate relele sociale. Orice om are datoria sfântă să  facă  tot ce poate pentru  triumful
acestei religii”.

Pentru  ineditul  ei, să  inserăm  aici  si  o  declaratie  a  unui  om  politic,  fost  presedinte  al  SUA, W.
Wilson: “Datorită  citirii  regulate  a Bibliei  am  primit,  prin  bunătatea  lui Dumnezeu, ajutorul necesar,
care mi-a  îngăduit să  trec printr-o serie  lungă de mari  încercări, fără a da  înapoi. Sunt 14 ani de când
am  luat  acest  obicei  si  nu-l  pot  recomanda  îndeajuns  tuturor.  Însă  trebuie să  citim  sub  privirea  lui
Dumnezeu si să cerem ajutorul ca să pătrundem gândurile Sale. Deplâng pe cei ce nu citesc Biblia zilnic.
Ei se lipsesc astfel de un izvor nesecat de putere spirituală”.

Deci Dumnezeu există. Este si concluzia marilor oameni de stiintă, marilor căutători. Cine nu crede
trebuie să cerceteze pe cont propriu. Asa a făcut  si generalul englez Lew Wallace. El a vrut să scrie o
carte  în care să arate că Hristos n-a existat  iar crestinismul este absurd. După câtiva ani de documentare
anticrestină a început să scrie cartea. Dar când a ajuns la capitolul 4 si-a dat seama că Hristos a existat si că
a  fost  mai  mult  decât  un  personaj  istoric.  La  50  de  ani  generalul  a  îngenunchiat  prima  dată  pentru
rugăciune si a cerut lui Iisus Hristos să fie Mântuitorul său. A revizuit cartea si a terminat-o. Este vorba de
celebrul roman “Ben-Hur” (lucru curios: generalul si Ben-Hur seamănă!).

Mărturisirile de mai sus sunt ale oamenilor mari,  întelepti, angajati  în cunoasterea  lumii materiale.
Dar  asta  nu-i  împiedică  pe  multi  contemporani  de-ai  nostri să  spună  “Numai  prostii mai  cred”. Să  le
amintim cuvintele psalmistului: “Nebunul zice în inima lui: Nu este Dumnezeu” (Ps.14, 1).” […]

Conflict între stiintă si credintă,  

între întelepciunea omenească si cea dumnezeiască* 

Ioan Cismileanu 

©Wild-Voice 2010

[ Science ] Life Built With Toxic Chemical

NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical

NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.

“The definition of life has just expanded,” said Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington. “As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it.”

This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week’s edition of Science Express.

Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.

Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.

“We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we’ve found is a microbe doing something new — building parts of itself out of arsenic,” said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team’s lead scientist. “If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven’t seen yet?”

The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic. When researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the microbes continued to grow. Subsequent analyses indicated that the arsenic was being used to produce the building blocks of new GFAJ-1 cells.

The key issue the researchers investigated was when the microbe was grown on arsenic did the arsenic actually became incorporated into the organisms’ vital biochemical machinery, such as DNA, proteins and the cell membranes. A variety of sophisticated laboratory techniques was used to determine where the arsenic was incorporated.

The team chose to explore Mono Lake because of its unusual chemistry, especially its high salinity, high alkalinity, and high levels of arsenic. This chemistry is in part a result of Mono Lake’s isolation from its sources of fresh water for 50 years.

The results of this study will inform ongoing research in many areas, including the study of Earth’s evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, disease mitigation and Earth system research. These findings also will open up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.

“The idea of alternative biochemistries for life is common in science fiction,” said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical, but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake.”

The research team included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Stanford Synchroton Radiation Lightsource in Menlo Park, Calif.

NASA’s Astrobiology Program in Washington contributed funding for the research through its Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. NASA’s Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth.

http://cdn-akm.vmixcore.com/core-flash/UnifiedVideoPlayer/UnifiedVideoPlayer.swf?player_id=127b4c33dad65bec1766de09e747bf8d

© http://www.nasa.gov

Stiinta o nebunie? Stephen Hawking: Nu Dumnezeu a creat Universul

Renumitul om de ştiinţă Stephen Hawking dă naştere unor noi controverse, declarând în noua sa carte că legele fizicii sunt cele care au stat în spatele creării Big Bang-ului, care a dat naştere Universului.

Profesorul se opune astfel credinţelor religioase tradiţionale care susţin că Dumnezeu este creatorul Universului, anunţă Daily Mail.

 “Pentru că există o lege precum cea a gravitaţiei, Universul poate şi se va crea singur din nimic. Nu este necesar să-l invocăm pe Dumnezeu”, notează Hawking, în cartea “The Grand Design”.

Noua lucrare a lui Hawking, la care coautor este savantul Leonard Mlodinow, îşi propune să conteste teoria lui Sir Isaac Newton, conform căreia Universul trebuie să fi fost creat de Dumnezeu pentru că nu se putea naşte din haos.

Cei doi autori dau, ca exemplu, descoperirea din 1992 a unei planete care se mişca în jurul unui alt Soare.

“Această descoperire a făcut ca acele coincidenţe ale condiţiilor planetei noastre – singurul Soare, combinaţia norocoasă a distanţei dintre Pământ şi Soare şi masa Soarelui – să nu mai fie atât de remarcabile. Cu atât mai puţin, vor servi ca dovezi ca Pământul ar fi fost creat doar pentru a ne servi pe noi, oamenii”, scriu Hawking şi Mlodinow.

libertatea.ro

Stephen Hawking a comis o eroare elementara de logica, excluzand Divinitatea din procesul de nastere a Universului, sustine un respectat rabin britanic. 

Stiinta se bazeaza pe explicatii, religia pe interpretari, insa ostilitatea dintre stiinta si religie le afecteaza pe ambele, spune Jonathan Sacks, unul din cei mai respectati rabini britanici, in replica la noua teorie a lui Stephen Hawking care sustine ca Universul nu a fost creat de Dumnezeu, ci a luat nastere datorita legilor fizicii. Hawking comite o eroare elementara de logica prin noua sa teorie, sustine Lord Sacks, sef al Congregatiei Evreiesti Unite a Commonwealth-ului.

Hawking isi detaliaza teoria in cea mai noua carte a sa The Grand Design, volum care va aparea in 9 septembrie, insa din care a fost publicat un extras in The Times. Cartea, scrisa impreuna cu fizicianul american Leonard Mlodinow sustine teoria conform careia pentru crearea universului nu a fost nevoie de interventia unei forte divine, iar Big Bang-ul a fost rezultatul “inevitabil” al legilor fizicii, scrie The Guardian.
 

Rabinul Sacks spune, intr-un articol in Times, ca aceasta teorie contine o eroare elementara de logica. “Exista o diferenta intre stiinta si religie. Stiinta lucreaza cu explicatii, la religie este vorba despre interpretari. Biblia pur si simplu nu este interesata de modul in care Universul a luat fiinta“, spune rabinul, care adauga ca ostilitatea mutuala dintre stiinta si religie “este un blestem al timpurilor noastre” si le afecteaza pe amandoua. “Dar este mult mai multa intelepciune aici decat este in cazul stiintei. (Stiinta) nu ne poate spune de ce suntem aici sau cum ar trebui sa traim. Stiinta deghizata ca religie este la fel de scandaloasa ca religia deghizata in stiinta“, mai spune rabinul sef.

 

In cea mai cunoscuta cartea a sa, “O scurta istorie a timpului”, aparuta in 1988, Hawking nu excludea posibilitatea ca Divinitatea sa fi avut un rol in crearea Universului, insa in noua carte el sustine ca nasterea Universului s-a datorat unei actiuni inevitabile a legilor fizicii, astfel ca procesul de creatie a fost unul spontan, fara a fi nevoie de o forta divina .

Teoria lui Hawking a starnit o controversa si multi spun ca, desi faptul ca el este unul din cei mai valorosi oameni de stiinta nu poate fi contestat si desi poate explica prin teorii stiintifice cum a luat fiinta Universul, nu poate, tot prin aceste teorii, sa excluda prezenta Divinitatii.

theologhia.wordpress.com 

Hawking: Puteţi numi “Dumnezeu” legile ştiinţei

“Dacă vom avea o teorie completă, ar fi supremul triumf al raţiunii umane – atunci vom cunoaşte mintea lui Dumnezeu”, scria Hawking în cartea publicată în 1988. În iunie 2010, într-un mesaj difuzat în timpul emisiunii “Genius of Britain”, de la Channel 4, Hawking opină că nu există un Dumnezeu “personal”.

“Întrebarea este: modul în care s-a născut Universul a fost ales de Dumnezeu, din motive şi după legi pe care nu le înţelegem sau a fost determinat de legi ştiinţifice? Eu cred că varianta a doua este cea corectă. Dacă vreţi, puteţi să numiţi legile ştiinţei “Dumnezeu”, dar nu ar mai fi un Dumnezeu personal, de genul cu care v-aţi putea întâlni şi i-aţi putea adresa întrebări”, a menţionat Hawkings.

Noua carte a lui Stephen Hawking va fi publicată la 9 septembrie.

Despre Stephen Hawking

Deşi atins de scleroză laterală amiotrofică, aproape paralizat, Stephen Hawking este unul dintre cei mai populari oameni de ştiinţă ai lumii.

Pentru a comunica, un prieten i-a creat lui Hawking (68 de ani) un aparat special, compus dintr-un computer şi un sintetizator vocal. Computerul poate fi controlat cu mici mişcări ale capului şi globilor oculari. Acest aparat îl ajută pe savant să îşi expună teoriile, dar cu o viteză foarte mică: 15 cuvinte pe minut.

Principalele domenii de cercetare ale lui Stephen Hawking sunt cosmologia teoretică, relativitatea generală şi mecanica cuantică.

Dintre cărţile celebre ale savantului britanic pot fi amintite “Scurtă istorie a timpului”, “Visul lui Einstein şi alte eseuri”, “Universul într-o coajă de nucă”, “O mai scurtă istorie a timpului”, “George şi cheia secretă a Universului”, “George şi vânătoarea de comori în Cosmos”. Ultimele două sunt cărţi SF pentru copii.
 

evz.ro
 

Darwin & The Theory of Evolution

” Darwin himself never claimed to provide proof of evolution or of the origin of species. His claim was that if evolution had occurred, a number of otherwise mysterious facts about plants and animals could be easily explained. After his death, however, direct evidence of evolution was observed, and evolution is now supported by a wealth of evidence from a variety of scientific fields.


The theory of evolution by natural selection that was developed by Charles Darwin revolutionized the study of living things. In his Origin of Species (1859) he provided a scientific explanation of how the diverse species of plants and animals have descended over time from common ancestors. His theory remains central to the foundations of modern biology. Moreover, by demonstrating how natural laws govern the world of living things, Darwin helped usher in a new era in the cultural and intellectual history of humankind.

Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England, on Feb. 12, 1809. Darwin‘s father was a successful and wealthy physician; his mother was a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, the famous British potter. She died when Charles was eight years old, and the boy was reared by three older sisters, who constantly found fault with him.

Darwin was such an indifferent student that his father said, “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.” He had no interest in the classical languages and ancient history taught in school. Instead, he liked to collect shells, birds’ eggs, and coins. He also watched birds and insects and helped his brother make chemical experiments at home.

At the age of 16, Darwin began to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. There too he found the courses dull, and watching operations made him ill. In 1828 he transferred to Cambridge, intending to become a clergyman. Instead, he devoted most of his time to studying plants and animals and later to geology. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1831.

Then came the event that shaped his life—an appointment as unpaid naturalist on the exploring ship Beagle. It left England on Dec. 27, 1831, to chart the southern coasts of South America and sail around the world. The voyage, with many side trips on land, lasted until October 1836. During those five years Darwin examined geologic formations, collected fossils, and studied plants and animals. In the jungles, mountains, and islands he visited, he saw evidence of the many geologic changes that have been occurring over the course of eons—for example, the land gradually rising in some places and falling in others. He also considered the great diversity of living things, even in the depths of the ocean where no humans could appreciate their beauty. He thought about how the fossils he collected suggested that some kinds of mammals had died out. And he returned home filled with questions.

Back home, Darwin settled in London and quietly began work on what would become his great theory of evolution, developed largely in 1837–39. Meanwhile, he wrote up the Journal of his scientific work on the Beagle. He also consulted experts to help him identify the thousands of fossils and specimens he had brought back, and he published the results. In 1839 he was admitted to the prestigious Royal Society.

Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839, and they eventually had 10 children. He began to avoid society, and in 1842 the couple moved to the isolated village of Downe. This was partly owing to physical illness: a few years earlier, Darwin had begun to experience the heart palpitations and nausea that would plague him for the rest of his life. But he also sought seclusion because he knew that his radical theory would shock and offend Victorian society. Believing in evolution, Darwin said, was “like confessing a murder.” And so he continued thi

In Darwin‘s time, the nearly universally accepted view was that God had created all species of living things in their current forms and that their attributes were the result of God’s design. Nevertheless, Darwin was not the first to suggest that living things might change over time. Since ancient times, people have proposed other ways that plants and animals could have developed. The first broad theory of evolution was proposed in the early 19th century by French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. He maintained that plants and animals evolved because of an inborn tendency to progress from simple to complex forms. Environment, however, modified this progression and so did use or disuse of parts. He thought that giraffes, for example, developed long necks by straining to reach the leaves of trees, while snakes lost their legs by crawling.

Darwin knew about Lamarck’s theory of evolution. His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had published several books expounding similar ideas. He felt, however, that early writers on the subject had speculated too much and had not based their theories on a solid foundation of observable phenomena. In developing his theory of evolution, Darwin drew upon observations made in a wide array of scientific disciplines and conducted a great many experiments.

Darwin also happened to read An Essay on the Principle of Population, by British economist Thomas Malthus. Malthus had undertaken to prove that human populations tend to increase more rapidly than food and other necessities. The result is a struggle in which some people succeed and become wealthy while others fail or even starve.

Darwin applied this theory to the world of nature. Plants and animals, he knew, reproduce so rapidly that the Earth could not hold them if all their young survived. This meant that there was a constant struggle for space, food, and shelter, as well as against enemies and unfavorable conditions. Certain hawks, for example, struggle, or compete, with each other for the mice they eat, and the poorest hunters go hungry. Mice, in turn, struggle to keep from being caught by hawks. In frigid winters living things struggle against the cold. Some endure it, while others fail to keep themselves warm enough and die. Although Darwin did not coin the phrase “survival of the fittest,” his ideas about struggle expressed the same notion.

Struggling and living or dying could not lead to evolution if all members of each living kind or species were exactly alike. Darwin found that members of a single species vary greatly in shape, size, color, strength, and so on. He also believed that most of these variations could be inherited.

Under the constant struggle to exist, organisms with harmful variations are more likely to die before they can reproduce. And, on average, living things with useful variations are more likely to survive and bear young and thus to pass on their helpful variations. When their descendants vary still more, the process is repeated. In other words, the struggle for existence selects organisms with helpful variations but makes others die out. Darwin called this process natural selection.

Over the ages, Darwin believed, changes from natural selection produce a slow succession of new plants, animals, and other organisms. These changes have enabled living things to go into all sorts of environments and become fitted, or adapted, to many different types of life. Darwin called his theory descent by modification, because he proposed that all living things were descended from earlier forms.

Darwin wrote a short sketch of his theory in 1842 and a longer one in 1844. Instead of publishing the second statement, however, he continued his investigations. He also wrote books on coral reefs, volcanic islands, barnacles, and the geology of South America. Not until 1856 did he begin what would be a multivolume work on evolution.

In 1858 he received a manuscript from a young naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, who also had developed a theory of natural selection. With Wallace’s approval, short statements by both men were published late in 1858. Darwin went on to write his famous book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, which appeared in 1859.

The book caused a tremendous stir, and not just in scientific circles. The general public also read, discussed, and vigorously defended or denounced Darwin‘s theory, which became a popular topic in society salons. Some religious leaders believed that evolution was incompatible with their teachings and so opposed it. Newspapers publicized with great scorn a conclusion that Darwin had been careful to avoid—that humans are descended from apes. Evolutionary imagery spread through many other fields, including literature, economics, and political and social science. During Darwin‘s lifetime, the scientific community largely accepted his theory of descent, though it was slower to adopt his idea of natural selection.

After completing the Origin of Species, Darwin began The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, which showed how rapidly some organisms had evolved under artificial selection, the selective breeding of plants and animals by humans. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871, discussed human evolution. Later books dealt with earthworms, orchids, climbing plants, and plants that eat insects.

Darwin became very weak in 1881 and could no longer work. He died on April 19, 1882, in Downe, and was buried in Westminster Abbey among England’s greatest citizens.

Darwin himself never claimed to provide proof of evolution or of the origin of species. His claim was that if evolution had occurred, a number of otherwise mysterious facts about plants and animals could be easily explained. After his death, however, direct evidence of evolution was observed, and evolution is now supported by a wealth of evidence from a variety of scientific fields.

Evolution has been rejected by members of some religious groups who prefer their theory of creationism. This attempts to explain some features of plant and animal life through a literal interpretation of the Bible. In the scientific community, however, there is little doubt that the general outline of Darwin‘s theory of evolution is correct.

To cite this page:

• MLA Style: “Darwin, Charles.” Britannica Student Library. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009.
• APA Style: Darwin, Charles. (2009). Britannica Student Library. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Student and Home Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.