Physicist Is Awarded the Templeton Prize in Spiritual Matters

New York Times ^ | today | Dennis Overbye

[Rodney King]

Physicist Is Awarded the Templeton Prize in Spiritual Matters By DENNIS OVERBYE

Published: March 10, 2005

Dr. Charles Townes, a physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for helping to invent the laser, added another and most unusual prize to a lifelong storehouse of honors yesterday. In a news conference at the United Nations, he was announced as the winner of the $1.5 million Templeton Prize, awarded annually for progress or research in spiritual matters.

Dr. Townes, 89, a longtime professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has long argued that those old antagonists science and religion are more alike than different and are destined to merge.

[Rodney King]

Login: freeper123 password: freeper123

[Rodney King]

Good job. Didn't realize you were so old.

[maestro]

Physicist Is Awarded $1.5 Million Dollar Templeton Prize in Spiritual Matters.....All Money to be 'burned' as spiritual memorial?

/Money doesn't 'Matter'...

:-)

[MineralMan]

From the article:

"Dr. Townes, who described himself as a Protestant Christian, said there was no reason to expect that the Bible would be all correct. Asked about his beliefs, he said, "I have enormous respect and adoration for Christ and what he did," but he added that he did not know whether Christ actually was the son of God."

Well, that's interesting.

[twigs]

This very much mirrors Templeton's beliefs and I'm sure that's why he got the prize. I'm just a little surprised that it was given to someone so old. Templeton's motive is to get data concerning how beliefs--like prayer--can influence real events--like health. I assume that someone here is going to carry on Dr. Townes' research.

[twigs]

But money matters to do research. That's what this is all about.

[Tribune7]

"Dr. Townes, who described himself as a Protestant Christian, said there was no reason to expect that the Bible would be all correct. Asked about his beliefs, he said, "I have enormous respect and adoration for Christ and what he did," but he added that he did not know whether Christ actually was the son of God."

Not to say that the NYT got it wrong or is distorting Dr. Townes beliefs but it is the NYT.

[MineralMan]

"Not to say that the NYT got it wrong or is distorting Dr. Townes beliefs but it is the NYT."

Nah, they didn't get his beliefs wrong. He's a sort of generic Christian. He likes to think about how science and religion are connected, but he's not some sort of creationist. For him, it is the phenomenon of religion that's interesting, not so much the details.

[Tribune7]

OK

[4everontheRight]

A native of my area...extremely smart man.

Here is a bit from his bio...

"Born in 1915, the second son of Henry Keith and Ellen Hard Townes, Charles was a curious, active boy who was fascinated by animals, insects, and birds he found on the family’s twenty-acre farm on Sumner Street just outside the Greenville city limits. With his brother, he collected bugs, watched birds, did farm chores, and explored the nearby streams and meadows. In later years, he said he would have been a biologist like his brother, who become an outstanding entomologist at the University of Michigan, but "Henry had dearly loved biology and was so good that I felt I couldn't top him." And, he admitted, he didn't want to write the papers required."