professor wins prize for maths link to god his theories do not so much offer proof of the existence...
TRANSCRIPT
Professor wins prize
Professor wins prize
for
Maths Link to God
His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as
introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us.
Hmmm if the 1.6 million is not in the envelope my theory is proven !!!!
Professor Wins Prize for Maths Link to God
A Polish priest and mathematician has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God.
How pathetic
How stingy
Surely he deserves
$1.6 Billion
at least
for God’s cellphone number
…God’s cellphone number maybe?
or Trillion maybe!!!!
Heller focuses on non-commutative geometry and groupoid theory in mathematics which attempts to remove the problem of an initial cosmological singularity at the origin of the universe.
"If on the fundamental level of physics there is no space and no time, as many physicists think," says Heller, "noncommutative geometry could be a suitable tool to deal with such a situation."
Professor wins prize for maths link to God
Professor Heller is a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics According to the Templeton Foundation Heller’s research has “pushed at the metaphysical horizons of science”.
Professor wins prize for maths link to God The theories of Professor Michael Heller do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence.
March 13, 2008
Fuck the prize, it is unimportant. The important thing is: can this man’s ideas be interesting? What did he actually say? Did he prove anything at all? Let’s listen to him first.
3. Stavros says: Posted March 14th, 2008 @ 12:03 pm Hi sesenta,
of course you are right in that we should hear his ideas unbiased. But his ideas and some of the questions he asks are outside science and not testable. Therefore, scientists have no reason to hear those particular questions.
Further, while Heller has a scientific background, it is obvious that he is only trying to use scientific ideas as a means to prove the existence of God.
As a scientist he should very well know that the God hypothesis adds absolutely nothing to our understanding of the Universe. It is merely a personification of our ignorance.
4. Kemal says: Posted March 16th, 2008 @ 4:45 pm This quote by Albert Einstein encapsulates everything wrong with a mathematical proof for God:
“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” -Quoted in J R Newman, The World of Mathematics (New York 1956).
Fuck the prize, it is unimportant. The important thing is: can this man’s ideas be interesting? What did he actually say? Did he prove anything at all? Let’s listen to him first.
3. Stavros says: of course you are right in that we should hear his ideas unbiased. But his ideas and some of the questions he asks are outside science and not testable. Therefore, scientists have no reason to hear those particular questions.
Further, while Heller has a scientific background, it is obvious that he is only trying to use scientific ideas as a means to prove the existence of God.
As a scientist he should very well know that the God hypothesis adds absolutely nothing to our understanding of the Universe. It is merely a personification of our ignorance.
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence. Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York. His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even chance, through mathematical calculation. According to the Templeton Foundation, which has awarded its prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities for 35 years, Professor Heller’s research has “pushed at the metaphysical horizons of science”. The prize money is adjusted every year so that it remains greater than the amount given by the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel prizes. Related LinksSpirituality key to overcoming terror Professor Heller was nominated for the award by Professor Karol Musiol, Rector of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, who said: “His unique position as a creatively working scientist and reflective man of religion has brought to science a sense of transcendent mystery and to religion a view of the universe through the broadly open eyes of science. “He has introduced a significant notion of theology of science. He has succeeded in showing that religion isolating itself from scientific insights is lame, and science failing to acknowledge other ways of understanding is blind.” In a statement yesterday, Professor Heller, a professor in the philosophy faculty at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, said: “If we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about the cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the great blueprint of God’s thinking about the universe, the question on ultimate causality: why is there something rather than nothing? “When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes. “Science is but a collective effort of the human mind to read the mind of God from question marks out of which we and the world around us seem to be made.” When he was a boy, Professor Heller’s family were sent to Siberia. His father had built new factories in Poland and joined a group that sabotaged a chemical plant in the south when the Nazis invaded at the start of the Second World War. The family feld to Lvov and were sent from there to Siberia by the Russians, where Professor Heller went to primary school. By the time he entered secondary school, the war had ended and he and his family returned to Poland. His father was persecuted again when his son decided to enter a seminary. In spite of the suppression of religion in Poland during much of his adult life, he went on to reach the top of his field academically, doing research in universities around the world including Oxford and Liège. He worked with Pope John Paul II, when he was Archbishop of Cracow and was one of a number of academics and scientists invited each summer to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, to debate the latest research in their respective fields. His greatest scientific influence has been the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who once wrote: “When God calculates and thinks things through, the world is made.” John Templeton, chair of the John Templeton Foundation and son of Sir John Templeton, who established the prize in 1973, said: “Michael Heller’s quest for deeper understanding has led to pioneering breakthroughs in religious concepts and knowledge as well as expanding the horizons of science.” Professor Heller, who also worked with John Paul II when he was Archbishop of Cracow, said yesterday that he would donate his prize money to the development of the new Copernicus Centre in Cracow, an academy for research into science and theology. The end of time?— The work of Professor Heller, above, revolves around the search for a fundamental theory of creation. His research ranges beyond Einstein and into quantum mechanics, cosmology, physics and pure mathematics, including his own version of the Heisenberg equation, below. Although his theories do not prove the existence of God, they may provide circumstantial evidence that He exists — So long as the Universe had a beginning, we can suppose it had a creator, he says. But if the Universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator? — Professor Heller argues against the Newtonian concept of creation, that is, against the idea of an absolute space and an absolute time and of God creating energy and matter at certain times — He suggests modern theologians should go back to the traditional doctrine that the creation of the Universe was an act that occurred outside space and time Source: Times Datatbase
Theology, Research ... : Professor wins prize for maths link to God
Polish Priest-Cosmologist Wins the Templeton Prize for “Proving” God March 12th, 2008 Oh dear, oh dear… The Templeton Prize… And the winner this year is…. (drum-roll)… Father Heller! What? What is this Templeton Prize? Why is it awarded? Who awards it?
Well, in a nutshell, the Templeton Prize is a big amount of money (around $1.5 million) that is awarded by the Templeton Foundation and is intended to […] encourage the concept that resources and manpower are needed to accelerate progress in spiritual discoveries, which can help humans to learn more than a hundredfold more about divinity. The Prize is intended to help people see the infinity of the Universal Spirit still creating the galaxies and all living things and the variety of ways in which the Creator is revealing himself to different people. Okay. This explains a lot. Wait a minute. No, actually it doesn’t explain anything. “…see the infinity of the Universal Spirit…“?!? “…still creating the galaxies…”?!? Sorry but we have a very good understanding and explanation for the formation of galaxies, star systems, and planets, and guess what? It does not involve a supernatural God. None at all. It is purely a natural phenomenon.
Also, resources and manpower allocated to spiritual discoveries only means less resources and less manpower allocated to what really matters: science. Then again, come to think of it, the people that would be allocated to such a hunt for the divine should better stay as far away from science as possible!
Anyway, let’s see what the criteria are for awarding the prize: The judges consider a nominee’s contribution to progress made either during the year prior to his selection or during his or her entire career. The qualities sought in awarding the Prize are: freshness, creativity, innovation and effectiveness. Such contributions may involve new concepts of divinity, new organizations, new and effective ways of communicating God’s wisdom and infinite love, creation of new schools of thought, creation of new structures of understanding the relationship of the Creator to his ongoing creation of the universe, to the physical sciences, and the life sciences, and the human sciences, the releasing of new and vital impulses into old religious structures and forms. So this is basically an award to someone resembling a scientist, or someone working towards “proving” the existence of God, divinity, creation etc. Trying to add scientific credibility to unscientific claims? As always.
And who is Father Heller? Father Heller was “[an] associate of Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, the future pope” and is “a philosophy professor at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow, Poland”. He has an educational background in physics and cosmology but which he later diluted with theology and philosophy studies.
Father Heller, however, does acknowledge that Intelligent Design proponents (ID-iots) should not create false dichotomies in claiming that either God made the Universe or everything occurred by “mere chance” -enough with the chance thing already! For the millionth time! He also asserts that ID-iots should be better educated -especially in theology. Me, with my humble mind, I fail to see how one can get specialized in theology… But that is just me…
So what is Father Heller’s opinion regarding the improbable creation of life? Quoting Heller from the Templeton Prize announcement: Various processes in the universe can be displayed as a succession of states in such a way that the preceding state is a cause of the succeeding one… (and) there is always a dynamical law prescribing how one state should generate another state. But dynamical laws are expressed in the form of mathematical equations, and if we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about a cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the Great Blueprint of God’s thinking the universe, the question on ultimate causality…: “Why is there something rather than nothing?” When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes. But isn’t Mathematics just a human construct? A language for helping us formally describe processes, systems, events, actions, relations etc? What does it mean to ask about the “cause of mathematical laws”? And where does God get in the picture? Further, the “ultimate question” as Heller states is probably outside the realms of science and into the realms of philosophy. Speculations and presumptions about the existence of a deity don’t help at all and definitely don’t explain anything.
Of course the Templeton Foundation is praising Heller using various problematic statements: With an academic and religious background that enables him to comfortably and credibly move within each of these domains, Heller’s extensive writings have evoked new and important consideration of some of humankind’s most profound concepts. and It is evident that for him the mathematical nature of the world and its comprehensibility by humans constitute the circumstantial evidence of the existence of God Well, his credibility pretty much vanishes when he starts introducing supernatural forces into science. Further, this is the argument from authority: just because Heller has studied physics and cosmology doesn’t mean that whatever he says is valid or reasonable! One needs to look at the hard facts, evidence, plausibility, and usability of one’s claims. And this is an area where Heller fails… Quoting from the Catholic News Service: But “God is also the God of chance events,” he said. “From what our point of view is, chance — from God’s point of view, is … his structuring of the universe.”
As an example, Father Heller said, “birth is a chance event, but people ascribe that to God. People have much better theology than adherents of intelligent design. The chance event is just a part of God’s plan.” Okay. So in essence, no matter what we discover, no matter how many scientific theories contradict the God hypothesis and the biblical truth, God has always been behind everything. Do we finally prove that God never existed? Yeap, God arranged for this too. Is everything in the bible a superstitious lie? God wanted this to happen. Evolution? God sparkled that highly improbable event of creating life -the creation myth was only a deliberate misdirection from God in order to test our faith and our capability to reason.
God is behind everything. No matter what. Get used to it. That is the opinion of the Templeton Prize Winner. But how could we expect something different?
Tags: Religion, Pseudoscience 4 Responses
1. Jonathan says: Posted March 12th, 2008 @ 9:58 pm $1.5 million for propaganda supporters! At least Heller will donate it for a good purpose
2. sesenta y cuatro says: Posted March 14th, 2008 @ 9:37 am I am not a believer.I don’t know anything about the Templeton Foundation.
But I think Heller’s ideas should be checked without any bias for or against.
I don’t care if he was friends with Giovanni Paolo II.
I have read a question from him that is really interesting: “why is there something instead of nothing?” I think that our cosmology models don’t quite even try to answer this question. We assume there was a beginning when everything was extremely condensed but we don’t know why. Sometimes you get a suggestion that the sum of the whole energy in the cosmos could be zero (J.D. Barrow) and therefore, the creation of the cosmos out of nothing would not violate any law.But that’s the furthest cosmologists go.
Still, the question remains unanswered.
Fuck the prize, it is unimportant. The important thing is: can this man’s ideas be interesting? What did he actually say? Did he prove anything at all? Let’s listen to h
Professor wins prize for maths link to God The theories of Professor Michael Heller do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence.
March 13, 2008
Professer Heller is a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics
A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence.
He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even chance, through mathematical calculation.
The 2008 Templeton Prize will be officially awarded to Heller by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
The theories of Professor Michael Heller do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us
Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York.
According to the Templeton Foundation, which has awarded its prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities for 35 years, Professor Heller’s research has “pushed at the metaphysical horizons of science”. The prize money is adjusted every year so that it remains greater than the amount given by the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel prizes.
March 12, 2008Cosmologist priest wins Templeton prize
Michael Heller, a Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest who specializes on the origin and cause of the universe has won the 2008 $1.6 million Templeton Prize.
Heller described his philosophy earlier today
"Various processes in the universe can be displayed as a succession of states in such a way that the preceding state is a cause of the succeeding one… (and) there is always a dynamical law prescribing how one state should generate another state. But dynamical laws are expressed in the form of mathematical equations, and if we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about a cause of mathematical laws.
By doing so we are back in the Great Blueprint of God's thinking of the universe, the question on ultimate causality…: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes."
Heller plans to dedicate the money to help create the Copernicus Center in conjunction with Jagiellonian University and the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow to further research and education in science and theology as an academic discipline.
His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even chance, through mathematical calculation.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008The ethics of mixing science and religion. I have to admit, when I picked up the phone to call Michael Heller, the Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest who was today awarded the $1.6 million Templeton Prize, I was a little uneasy. I am strongly committed to the idea that science and religion don't mix, while the prize is awarded by the Templeton Foundation for "progress toward research or discoveries about spiritual realities". The Templeton Foundation is a strange beast indeed. On the one hand, it is not officially committed to any particular religion, it does not support hack religious theories like intelligent design, it funds lots of fundamental theoretical physics that is not otherwise readily funded, and it doesn't explicitly interfere with or influence the scientific results of the various projects it funds.
On the other hand, the foundation's primary goal is to support science that in turn supports religion, to use science as a tool to promote a religious agenda. It's as if rather than fighting against science the way some religious factions - like creationists - do, they figure, we'll just buy science and use it for our own ends.
Consider this: when Sir John Templeton established the Templeton Prize in 1972 he stipulated that the monetary value should always be higher than that of the Nobel Prize -his way of saying that theology is more important than any other intellectual enterprise. Still, Sir John always seemed to be more of an eccentric billionaire than a dangerous force.
Now, however, his son Jack has taken over the foundation, and as Alexander Saxton pointed out in a Free Inquiry article, Jack is a gung-ho Evangelical Christian. In light of all this, some scientists feel it undermines their integrity to accept Templeton money. Others think, why not just take their money and put it to good scientific use?
When I talked with Heller, my concerns were eased. Heller comes across as a contemplative, kind and brilliant man with an impressive intellectual range, flitting easily between talk of complex philosophical ideas and sophisticated mathematical physics. (I was intrigued that his current work is focused on ridding physics of the big bang singularity - despite the fact that many Catholics have latched on to the idea of the singularity as the space left for God and his creative power.)
He is the kind of physicist who is so awestruck by the mathematical order of the universe that he sees God lurking in equations. For him, science and religion are difficult to separate. And after talking with him I could understand why - Heller grew up in a family environment in which intellectualism and religion were deeply intertwined and in a political environment in which both were persecuted by the Communist regime in Poland. The point is, the Templeton Foundation's efforts to buy scientists might be dangerous. But Michael Heller certainly isn't.
Here's something to ponder: Would you take $1.6 million from an organisation whose motives you didn't agree with?
Amanda Gefter, Opinion editor Labels: religion, Templeton
At a 1941 symposium on the intersection between science, religion, and philosophy, Einstein said, "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Although I generally find myself rejecting the concept of religion as the very enemy of science, I have to admit that there's been very little that's propelled me to learn more about science, advance more technologically, or debate more philosophically than the clash between these two behemoths.Beyond the contention, self-righteous indignation, and pure ego involved in the obligatory if not rite-of-passage science vs. religion arguments, is something rather spectacular. The one fuels the other and forces the evolution of each's principles. Religion is forced to take on a contemporary relativity despite the very foundation of the program rejecting that exact concept. Science is forced to prove, reprove, or at the very least extend its own boundaries at a break-neck pace. Whether the reason for these evolutions (if you'll pardon the irony of using the word) are steeped in disrespect for the beliefs of the other or in pure and unadulterated ego... it doesn't matter. Whether either of the camps like to admit it, they make each other better. They make the arguments more interesting. They make the other review and retool their understanding of their own points.So, would I accept money from an opposing viewpoint? Sure, if it's going to advance my field-- who cares where it comes from? No one likes lame and who would choose to be blind? The real power is in the clash. I'd be happy to be a part of that in the hopes that it'd piss enough people off on both sides to sharpen their points.By Monkey Doodle on March 12, 2008 10:51 PM I would be comfortable if all he is trying to prove is that a higher being exists, since proving that god exists doesn't prove that the religions are right.There is a possibility that god might have made the world but man might have made religion.By Anonymous on March 13, 2008 12:14 AM This argument closely mimics one from a cinema classic, Clerks, where the fate of the contractors on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi was debated. Was it fair for them to die because they took a job with someone whose motives were evil? I know, it's just a movie, but what about the fact that the US Government armed and trained Osama Bin Laden during the Afghan conflict with the USSR.
Movies, politics, Science and religion aside, you have a moral obligation to yourself to stand behind your beliefs in all situations. Placing yourself in a position where you or what you believe is for sale or can be leveraged against you is a slippery slope to walk. It may be easier to get funding from such sources but at best it can only damage the integrity of the research which may otherwise be sound. To make your results as infallible as possible find non-biased funding and let the research speak for itself and not have the source of the funding come into question when people review the results.By H on March 13, 2008 12:57 AM I think that it sounds like a bit of a lobby in that the foundation doesn't "explicitly interfere with or influence the scientific results" but the amount of money it is donating is pretty significant. If the results/outcomes of the projects were something that the foundation didn't neccessarily agree with, I'm sure it would have enough pull to affect the final outcome or at least, make someone reconsider the research.While yes, funding is funding no matter where it comes from, I think I would be a little leary on accepting funding from an organization whose primary goal is to "support science that in turn supports religion, to use science as a tool to promote a religious agenda."By Anonymous on March 13, 2008 1:19 AM While agree that it is important to understand the motivations, mission and biases of your funding sources, I do not think that one has to turn down funding due to those things. As long as you are conscious of these things you can make choices based more on which biases can you can mitigate. Its no different from accepting a job at a place that may hold values that are contrary to personal beliefs. Only those who run their own businesses, are unemployed, self supported or independently wealthy have the luxury of claiming that they have no reservations about their earnings (or lack there of). We make choices about what we can live with. The best of us acknowledge the compromises we make and monitor how it affects our work. Its not just in the money we accept either. Hospitals, colleges and charities often have religious foundations and sometimes funding. Religion is a part of our world and affects believers and non believers alike. No matter what its your willingness to be aware of and accept those influences that makes the difference.By Anonymous on March 13, 2008 1:54 AM "Would you take $1.6 million from an organisation whose motives you didn't agree with?“
Well, it's a tricky ethical question, there are a lot of factors for one to first consider before comming up with an answer.Who am I? How would an association with this organization affect my reputation?Where is this money comming from exactly? Is it simply an endorsement of my worth, or are there strings attached? Will I owe anyone anything? Is this in any way compromising to the integrity of my research?Another important consideration: What exactly does 1.6 million dollars mean to me? Is this money easy to come by? Am I spending $100 million on research as it stands? Maybe I can avoid the association in this case. On the flip side, what if I don't have any funding? Can I afford to pass this up due to the fact that I don't agree with their motives? This is a tough question to answer, it really does depend who you are and what that money could mean to you and your research. Would I personally take the money? Probably. But, to be fair, I'm not one who finds science and religion to be mutually exclusive. If the money really is an award, without any particular expectations behind it, I don't see *much* of an issue, but that's just from my standpoint, I guess.By Golden Delicious on March 13, 2008 2:11 AM i had fought with this question for a while. it seems that everyone when asked certain questions say, it's against my belief, but when "for a million dollars" is added on, they usually will rationalize it. Which is easy to do for selfish and unselfish reasons (i could save so many people dying of starvation with this money). i've decided for myself that i will not dispose of any of my beliefs for money. all and all money is not that important to me personally, while i enjoy having it, i enjoy earning it just as much, i will support saving people's lives, but to sacrifice one belief usually leads to sacrificing another, (once you get the snowball rolling) and mostly i'm pretty happy with my beliefs and where they have gotten me, i'm willing to change them if persuaded but not to give them up.
however, this all doesn't answer the question, because it's not about sacrificing my beliefs it's about taking money from an organization i don't believe in. which seems to have no disadvantage to me, other than my peers might lose some respect for me, worse things have happened.By Ralph on March 13, 2008 4:31 AM
Worrying that the Templeton prize is an attempt to "buy" scientists to support a religious agenda is just paranoia. If a Christian evangelist wants to give a scientist money AFTER
they've made their contribution to scientific knowledge, and tell them "I like your work, use this as you please, no strings attached", where's the problem???
Maybe you are worried that Heller wants to found a center for science and theology. Why should that worry anyone?
Science's job is to assist us in knowing about the universe (and anything beyond). The strength of scientific knowledge depends on the experimental tools and the intellectual
understanding. If anyone doesn't like religion(s), then the best thing to do is to encourage honest-to-goodness scientific study of God.
I think research money to Heller is a good thing.
One more thought - when a scientist or mathematician with a name like "Heller" says he's interested in God and science, it doesn't sound like he's the kind to hide anything.
Priest-cosmologist wins $1.6m Templeton Prize Michael (Michał) Heller, a Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest who has spent his life studying the origin and cause of the universe, has won the 2008 Templeton Prize. The $1.6 million Templeton Prize is the world's largest annual monetary award given to an individual. The previous years' awardees can be found here. From Templetonprize.org -- "Heller, 72, Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, toiled for years beneath the stifling strictures of the Soviet era. He has become a compelling figure in the realms of physics and cosmology, theology, and philosophy... "In a statement prepared for the news conference, Heller described his position as follows: 'Various processes in the universe can be displayed as a succession of states in such a way that the preceding state is a cause of the succeeding one... (and) there is always a dynamical law prescribing how one state should generate another state. But dynamical laws are expressed in the form of mathematical equations, and if we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about a cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the Great Blueprint of God's thinking the universe, the question on ultimate causality...: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes.'" Michał Kazimierz Heller was born on March 12, 1936 in Tarnow, Poland, one of five children in a deeply religious family devoted to intellectual interests. [Image: Templetonprize.org] Related post: John D. Barrow wins the 2006 Templeton Prize
Professor wins prize for maths link to God
Professer Heller is a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics The theories of Professor Michael Heller do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence. Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York. His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even chance, through mathematical calculation. According to the Templeton Foundation, which has awarded its prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities for 35 years, Professor Heller’s research has “pushed at the metaphysical horizons of science”. The prize money is adjusted every year so that it remains greater than the amount given by the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel prizes. Related LinksSpirituality key to overcoming terror Professor Heller was nominated for the award by Professor Karol Musiol, Rector of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, who said: “His unique position as a creatively working scientist and reflective man of religion has brought to science a sense of transcendent mystery and to religion a view of the universe through the broadly open eyes of science. “He has introduced a significant notion of theology of science. He has succeeded in showing that religion isolating itself from scientific insights is lame, and science failing to acknowledge other ways of understanding is blind.” In a statement yesterday, Professor Heller, a professor in the philosophy faculty at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, said: “If we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about the cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the great blueprint of God’s thinking about the universe, the question on ultimate causality: why is there something rather than nothing? “When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes. “Science is but a collective effort of the human mind to read the mind of God from question marks out of which we and the world around us seem to be made.” When he was a boy, Professor Heller’s family were sent to Siberia. His father had built new factories in Poland and joined a group that sabotaged a chemical plant in the south when the Nazis invaded at the start of the Second World War. The family feld to Lvov and were sent from there to Siberia by the Russians, where Professor Heller went to primary school. By the time he entered secondary school, the war had ended and he and his family returned to Poland. His father was persecuted again when his son decided to enter a seminary. In spite of the suppression of religion in Poland during much of his adult life, he went on to reach the top of his field academically, doing research in universities around the world including Oxford and Liège. He worked with Pope John Paul II, when he was Archbishop of Cracow and was one of a number of academics and scientists invited each summer to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, to debate the latest research in their respective fields. His greatest scientific influence has been the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who once wrote: “When God calculates and thinks things through, the world is made.” John Templeton, chair of the John Templeton Foundation and son of Sir John Templeton, who established the prize in 1973, said: “Michael Heller’s quest for deeper understanding has led to pioneering breakthroughs in religious concepts and knowledge as well as expanding the horizons of science.” Professor Heller, who also worked with John Paul II when he was Archbishop of Cracow, said yesterday that he would donate his prize money to the development of the new Copernicus Centre in Cracow, an academy for research into science and theology. The end of time?— The work of Professor Heller, above, revolves around the search for a fundamental theory of creation. His research ranges beyond Einstein and into quantum mechanics, cosmology, physics and pure mathematics, including his own version of the Heisenberg equation, below. Although his theories do not prove the existence of God, they may provide circumstantial evidence that He exists — So long as the Universe had a beginning, we can suppose it had a creator, he says. But if the Universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator? — Professor Heller argues against the Newtonian concept of creation, that is, against the idea of an absolute space and an absolute time and of God creating energy and matter at certain times — He suggests modern theologians should go back to the traditional doctrine that the creation of the Universe was an act that occurred outside space and time Source: Times Datatbase
Professor wins prize for maths link to God
Professer Heller is a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics The theories of Professor Michael Heller do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence. Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York. His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even chance, through mathematical calculation. According to the Templeton Foundation, which has awarded its prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities for 35 years, Professor Heller’s research has “pushed at the metaphysical horizons of science”. The prize money is adjusted every year so that it remains greater than the amount given by the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel prizes.
Professor Wins Prize for Math's Link to God A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s
richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence. Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in
mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York. His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even
chance, through mathematical calculation.
According to the Templeton Foundation, which has awarded its prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities for 35 years, Professor Heller’s research has “pushed at the
metaphysical horizons of science”. The prize money is adjusted every year so that it remains greater than the amount given by the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel prizes.
Professor Heller was nominated for the award by Professor Karol Musiol, Rector of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, who said: “His unique position as a creatively working scientist and reflective
man of religion has brought to science a sense of transcendent mystery and to religion a view of the universe through the broadly open eyes of science.
“He has introduced a significant notion of theology of science. He has succeeded in showing that religion isolating itself from scientific insights is lame, and science failing to acknowledge other ways of
understanding is blind.”
In a statement yesterday, Professor Heller, a professor in the philosophy faculty at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, said: “If we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about the cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the great blueprint of God’s thinking about
the universe, the question on ultimate causality: why is there something rather than nothing?
“When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes.
“Science is but a collective effort of the human mind to read the mind of God from question marks out of which we and the world around us seem to be made.”
When he was a boy, Professor Heller’s family were sent to Siberia. His father had built new factories in Poland and joined a group that sabotaged a chemical plant in the south when the Nazis invaded at
the start of the Second World War.
The family feld to Lvov and were sent from there to Siberia by the Russians, where Professor Heller went to primary school. By the time he entered secondary school, the war had ended and he and his
family returned to Poland. His father was persecuted again when his son decided to enter a seminary.
In spite of the suppression of religion in Poland during much of his adult life, he went on to reach the top of his field academically, doing research in universities around the world including Oxford and
Liège.
He worked with Pope John Paul II, when he was Archbishop of Cracow and was one of a number of academics and scientists invited each summer to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, to
debate the latest research in their respective fields.
His greatest scientific influence has been the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who once wrote: “When God calculates and thinks things through, the world is made.”
John Templeton, chair of the John Templeton Foundation and son of Sir John Templeton, who established the prize in 1973, said: “Michael Heller’s quest for deeper understanding has led to
pioneering breakthroughs in religious concepts and knowledge as well as expanding the horizons of science.”
Professor Heller, who also worked with John Paul II when he was Archbishop of Cracow, said yesterday that he would donate his prize money to the development of the new Copernicus Centre in
Cracow, an academy for research into science and theology.
The end of time?
— The work of Professor Heller, above, revolves around the search for a fundamental theory of creation. His research ranges beyond Einstein and into quantum mechanics, cosmology, physics and pure mathematics, including his own version of the Heisenberg equation, below. Although his theories
do not prove the existence of God, they may provide circumstantial evidence that He exists
— So long as the Universe had a beginning, we can suppose it had a creator, he says. But if the Universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither
beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?
— Professor Heller argues against the Newtonian concept of creation, that is, against the idea of an absolute space and an absolute time and of God creating energy and matter at certain times
— He suggests modern theologians should go back to the traditional doctrine that the creation of the Universe was an act that occurred outside space and time
Professor Wins Prize for Math's Link to God A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the
late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer
circumstantial evidence of God’s existence. Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and
philosopher specialising in mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York. His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of
God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that
make it possible to explain everything, even chance, through mathematical calculation.
Professor Wins Prize for Math's Link to God A Polish priest and mathematician who was a friend of the late Pope John Paul II has won the world’s
richest academic prize for work that shows how maths can offer circumstantial evidence of God’s existence. Professor Michael Heller, 72, a pioneering cosmologist and philosopher specialising in
mathematics and metaphysics, received the £820,000 prize yesterday in New York. His theories do not so much offer proof of the existence of God as introduce doubt about the material existence of the world around us. He specialises in complex formulae that make it possible to explain everything, even
chance, through mathematical calculation.
According to the Templeton Foundation, which has awarded its prize for Progress toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities for 35 years, Professor Heller’s research has “pushed at the
metaphysical horizons of science”. The prize money is adjusted every year so that it remains greater than the amount given by the Nobel Foundation, which awards the Nobel prizes.
Professor Heller was nominated for the award by Professor Karol Musiol, Rector of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, who said: “His unique position as a creatively working scientist and reflective
man of religion has brought to science a sense of transcendent mystery and to religion a view of the universe through the broadly open eyes of science.
“He has introduced a significant notion of theology of science. He has succeeded in showing that religion isolating itself from scientific insights is lame, and science failing to acknowledge other ways of
understanding is blind.”
In a statement yesterday, Professor Heller, a professor in the philosophy faculty at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, said: “If we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about the cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the great blueprint of God’s thinking about
the universe, the question on ultimate causality: why is there something rather than nothing?
“When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes.
“Science is but a collective effort of the human mind to read the mind of God from question marks out of which we and the world around us seem to be made.”
When he was a boy, Professor Heller’s family were sent to Siberia. His father had built new factories in Poland and joined a group that sabotaged a chemical plant in the south when the Nazis invaded at
the start of the Second World War.
The family feld to Lvov and were sent from there to Siberia by the Russians, where Professor Heller went to primary school. By the time he entered secondary school, the war had ended and he and his
family returned to Poland. His father was persecuted again when his son decided to enter a seminary.
In spite of the suppression of religion in Poland during much of his adult life, he went on to reach the top of his field academically, doing research in universities around the world including Oxford and
Liège.
He worked with Pope John Paul II, when he was Archbishop of Cracow and was one of a number of academics and scientists invited each summer to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, to
debate the latest research in their respective fields.
His greatest scientific influence has been the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who once wrote: “When God calculates and thinks things through, the world is made.”
John Templeton, chair of the John Templeton Foundation and son of Sir John Templeton, who established the prize in 1973, said: “Michael Heller’s quest for deeper understanding has led to
pioneering breakthroughs in religious concepts and knowledge as well as expanding the horizons of science.”
Professor Heller, who also worked with John Paul II when he was Archbishop of Cracow, said yesterday that he would donate his prize money to the development of the new Copernicus Centre in
Cracow, an academy for research into science and theology.
The end of time?
— The work of Professor Heller, above, revolves around the search for a fundamental theory of creation. His research ranges beyond Einstein and into quantum mechanics, cosmology, physics and pure mathematics, including his own version of the Heisenberg equation, below. Although his theories
do not prove the existence of God, they may provide circumstantial evidence that He exists
— So long as the Universe had a beginning, we can suppose it had a creator, he says. But if the Universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither
beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?
— Professor Heller argues against the Newtonian concept of creation, that is, against the idea of an absolute space and an absolute time and of God creating energy and matter at certain times
— He suggests modern theologians should go back to the traditional doctrine that the creation of the Universe was an act that occurred outside space and time
BY FRED GRIMM [email protected] Five years ago, the Florida Legislature was duped into putting up $310 million to lure the Scripps Research Institute to Palm Beach County. Our cracker politicians were misled by promises that Scripps' biomedical research would be just the ticket to keep Florida from devolving into a low-skilled, low-tech, low-paid, know-nothing backwater. Can't blame 'em. Jeb Bush himself was ballyhooing the deal. ''A defining moment in Florida's future,'' the governor said. Nobody explained to our hoodwinked legislators that those Scripps fellows were nothing but a bunch of damn evolutionists. That stuff those scientists do: tearing apart molecules, studying cellular biology and immunology and neurosciences and chemistry, hunting down cures for cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases -- all of that's based on godless evolution. If only our brave Bible-thumping legislators had known this back in 2004, they could have put the fear of God into those Darwinian lab rats. They would have warned 'em: Either do your so-called biomedical research by giving equal time to the seven-day creation theory, the 7,000-year-old earth theory and intelligent design or take your (monkey) tails straight back to Cow-Lie-Forn-Ya. Of course, scientists at Scripps might be thinking, ``Hey, wait just a minute. We're the ones who were duped.'' STATE OF CONFUSION Sir Harold Kroto, Britain's 1996 Nobel laureate for chemistry and a professor at Florida State University, said the scientific community has been taken aback by Florida's retro-war on evolution. ``We thought this was just something that happened in Kansas. Or maybe Texas.'' ''If this had blown up four years ago, there certainly would have been discussions about whether Florida was the right place for Scripps,'' said Kroto, who happens to be on the Scripps board of governors. Kroto has watched (''It's quite unbelievable'') as bills designed to counter the state board of education's decision in February to include evolution in the curriculum wend through both the House and Senate. The bill guarantees teachers the right to offer a ''full range of views on biological and chemical evolution.'' Except, Kroto noted, Darwin's theory happens to be the only view that has withstood rigorous scientific scrutiny. Kroto has been elected into the National Academy of Science, an outfit that has embraced evolution as key component in the study of biology, physics, geology, astronomy, paleontology, chemistry. And on and on. ''You'd think that the Academy would be the first stop political leaders would make when it comes to science education,'' he said. RELIGIOUS DOGMA Not in Florida. Our legislators seem poised to downgrade evolution to the equivalent of religious dogma. ''If I was a young scientist asked to come to work at Scripps in Florida, I'd think very carefully whether I'd want my children to go to school here,'' Kroto said Wednesday. No doubt, our sanctified lawmakers wouldn't want those unholy Darwinians here anyway. Sir Harold suggested a nice compromise. Legislators and others who object to teaching evolution in Florida's classrooms should refuse medical treatments derived from research guided by Darwin's black art. That ought to thin the ranks of the true believers. And allow science teachers to get on with teaching Florida kids some actual science.
March 12, 2008Cosmologist priest wins Templeton prizePhysics Today: Michael (Michał) Heller, a Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest who research specializes on the origin and cause of the universe, often under intense governmental repression, has won the 2008 $1.6 million Templeton Prize.
Heller's current work focuses on noncommutative geometry and groupoid theory in mathematics which attempts to remove the problem of an initial cosmological singularity at the origin of the universe. "If on the fundamental level of physics there is no space and no time, as many physicists think," says Heller, "noncommutative geometry could be a suitable tool to deal with such a situation."Heller described his philosophy earlier today as"Various processes in the universe can be displayed as a succession of states in such a way that the preceding state is a cause of the succeeding one… (and) there is always a dynamical law prescribing how one state should generate another state. But dynamical laws are expressed in the form of mathematical equations, and if we ask about the cause of the universe we should ask about a cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the Great Blueprint of God's thinking the universe, the question on ultimate causality…: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes."The 2008 Templeton Prize will be officially awarded to Heller by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace in the UK on Wednesday, May 7th.Heller plans to dedicate the Templeton Prize money to help create the Copernicus Center in conjunction with Jagiellonian University and the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow to further research and education in science and theology as an academic discipline.