Quakers in science
Encyclopedia
The Religious Society of Friends
(commonly known as Quakers) encouraged some values which may have been conducive to encouraging scientific talents. A theory suggested by David Hackett Fischer
in his book Albion's Seed indicated early Quakers in the US preferred "practical study" to the more traditional studies of Greek or Latin popular with the elite. Another theory suggests their avoidance of dogma or clergy gave them a greater flexibility in response to science.
Despite those arguments a major factor is agreed to be that the Quakers were initially discouraged or forbidden to go to the major law or humanities schools in Britain due to the Test Act
. They also at times faced similar discriminations in the United States as many of the colonial Universities had a Puritan or Anglican orientation. This led them to attend "Godless" institutions or forced them to rely on hands on scientific experimentation rather than academia.
Because of these issues it has been stated Quakers are better represented in science than most religions. There are sources, Pendlehill and Encyclopædia Britannica
, that indicate that for over two centuries they were overrepresented in the Royal Society
. Mention is made of this possibility in studies referenced in Religiousness and intelligence and in a book by Arthur Raistrick. Whether this is still accurate there have been several noteworthy members of this denomination in science. The following names a few.
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
(commonly known as Quakers) encouraged some values which may have been conducive to encouraging scientific talents. A theory suggested by David Hackett Fischer
David Hackett Fischer
David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. Fischer's major works have tackled everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends to narrative histories of significant events to explorations of...
in his book Albion's Seed indicated early Quakers in the US preferred "practical study" to the more traditional studies of Greek or Latin popular with the elite. Another theory suggests their avoidance of dogma or clergy gave them a greater flexibility in response to science.
Despite those arguments a major factor is agreed to be that the Quakers were initially discouraged or forbidden to go to the major law or humanities schools in Britain due to the Test Act
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists...
. They also at times faced similar discriminations in the United States as many of the colonial Universities had a Puritan or Anglican orientation. This led them to attend "Godless" institutions or forced them to rely on hands on scientific experimentation rather than academia.
Because of these issues it has been stated Quakers are better represented in science than most religions. There are sources, Pendlehill and Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, that indicate that for over two centuries they were overrepresented in the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. Mention is made of this possibility in studies referenced in Religiousness and intelligence and in a book by Arthur Raistrick. Whether this is still accurate there have been several noteworthy members of this denomination in science. The following names a few.
Some Quakers in science
- James BackhouseJames BackhouseJames Backhouse was a botanist and missionary for the Quaker church in Australia.-Early life in England:Backhouse was the fourth child of James and Mary Backhouse a quaker business family of Darlington, County Durham, England. His father died when he was a child and his mother brought him up in a...
- A botanist and missionary. Author abbreviation Backh. - Wilson BakerWilson BakerProfessor Wilson Baker FRS was a British organic chemist.He was born in Runcorn, the youngest of the four children of Harry and Mary Baker ; his father was himself a chemist, having studied under Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe and Robert Bunsen, amongst others...
- Organic chemist. - John BartramJohn Bartram*Hoffmann, Nancy E. and John C. Van Horne, eds., America’s Curious Botanist: A Tercentennial Reappraisal of John Bartram 1699-1777. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 243. ....
— Described as the "father of American Botany", he founded Bartram Botanical Gardens in Kingsessing on the bank of the SchuylkillSchuylkillSchuylkill may refer to the* Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania, United StatesPlaces:* Schuylkill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, neighborhood in South Philadelphia* Schuylkill Expressway, portion of I-76 in Philadelphia* Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania...
. - Jocelyn Bell BurnellJocelyn Bell BurnellSusan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS , is a British astrophysicist. As a postgraduate student she discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish. She was president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and was interim president...
— She discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis advisor Antony HewishAntony HewishAntony Hewish FRS is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for his work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars...
. Raised Quaker in Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
she volunteered in "local and national Quaker activities up to in least the 1970s.http://books.nap.edu/books/0309072700/html/371.html She is still an active Quaker up to the present. - Kenneth E. BouldingKenneth E. BouldingKenneth Ewart Boulding was an economist, educator, peace activist, poet, religious mystic, devoted Quaker, systems scientist, and interdisciplinary philosopher. He was cofounder of General Systems Theory and founder of numerous ongoing intellectual projects in economics and social science. He was...
— Systems theorist and economist. - Peter Collinson FRSPeter Collinson FRSPeter Collinson was a Fellow of the Royal Society, an avid gardener, and the middleman for an international exchange of scientific ideas in mid-18th century London...
— His family belonged to the Gracechurch meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers) and worked on electricity. - John DaltonJohn DaltonJohn Dalton FRS was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness .-Early life:John Dalton was born into a Quaker family at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, Cumberland,...
— For a time he taught at a Quaker school, but is best known for work in atomic theoryAtomic theoryIn chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms, as opposed to the obsolete notion that matter could be divided into any arbitrarily small quantity...
. - Arthur Stanley EddingtonArthur Stanley EddingtonSir Arthur Stanley Eddington, OM, FRS was a British astrophysicist of the early 20th century. He was also a philosopher of science and a popularizer of science...
— Active in the Quaker Guild of Teachers, attended meetings regularly.Sections 3 and 4, also this - George Ellis — He co-authored The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with University of Cambridge physicist Stephen HawkingStephen HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
. He also won the 2004 Templeton PrizeTempleton PrizeThe Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical...
and got involved with the Quaker Service Fund.http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2004/06/24_scienceandhope/ - Robert Were Fox the YoungerRobert Were Fox the YoungerRobert Were Fox FRS was a British geologist, natural philosopher and inventor. He is known mainly for his work on the temperature of the earth and his construction of a compass to measure magnetic dip at sea....
- Geologist active in the early days of the British Association for the Advancement of ScienceBritish Association for the Advancement of Scienceframe|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...
. - Ursula FranklinUrsula FranklinUrsula Martius Franklin, , is a Canadian metallurgist, research physicist, author and educator who has taught at the University of Toronto for more than 40 years...
- Metallurgist and Physicist.http://www.btlbooks.com/New_Titles/ursulafranklin.htm - Thomas HodgkinThomas HodgkinThomas Hodgkin was a British physician, considered one of the most prominent pathologists of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is now best known for the first account of Hodgkin's disease, a form of lymphoma and blood disease, in 1832...
— Lived in the more ultra-orthodox era of Quakerism so wore plain clothes and spoke in a formal manner. Hodgkin's disease is named for him. - Rush D. Holt, Jr.Rush D. Holt, Jr.Rush Dew Holt, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is currently the only Quaker in Congress.-Early life and education :Rush D. Holt was born to Rush D...
- Congressman and former Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics LaboratoryPrinceton Plasma Physics LaboratoryPrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an...
. He also beat WatsonWatson (artificial intelligence software)Watson is an artificial intelligence computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language, developed in IBM's DeepQA project by a research team led by principal investigator David Ferrucci. Watson was named after IBM's first president, Thomas J...
and has a patent for a "method for maintaining a correct density gradient in a non-convecting solar pond,".http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20037661-36.htmlhttp://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/01/rush_holt_beats_machine/ - Luke HowardLuke HowardLuke Howard FRS was a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science...
— Meteorologist known for work in cloudCloudA cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
types and nomenclature http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2218583 - Kathleen LonsdaleKathleen LonsdaleDame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE FRS was a crystallographer, who established the structure of benzene by X-ray diffraction methods in 1929, and hexachlorobenzene by Fourier spectral methods in 1931...
— "A prominent crystallographerCrystallographerCrystallographer could refer to someone who practices:*X-ray crystallography*Crystallography...
, who discovered the planar hexagonal structure of benzene."..."Lonsdale became a Quaker in 1935. As such, she was a committed pacifist and served time in Holloway prison during World War II because she refused to register for civil defense duties or to pay the resulting fine." - Lewis Fry RichardsonLewis Fry RichardsonLewis Fry Richardson, FRS was an English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist and pacifist who pioneered modern mathematical techniques of weather forecasting, and the application of similar techniques to studying the causes of wars and how to prevent them...
— Meteorology, "Richardson's Quaker beliefs entailed an ardent pacifism that exempted him from military service during World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
" - Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr.Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr.Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. is an American astrophysicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Russell Alan Hulse of a "new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation."...
— I was educated mostly at Quaker institutions, in particular Moorestown Friends School and Haverford CollegeHaverford CollegeHaverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
... Perhaps related to my Quaker upbringing, I've always valued personal involvement in a difficult task From his Nobel autobiographical essay.http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1993/taylor-autobio.html - Daniel Hack TukeDaniel Hack TukeDaniel Hack Tuke was an English physician and expert on mental illness.-Family:Tuke came from a long line of Quakers from York who were interested in mental illness and concerned with those afflicted...
— Expert on mental illness "Tuke came from a long line of Quakers from York who were interested in mental illness and concerned with those afflicted." - Caspar WistarCaspar Wistar (physician)Caspar Wistar was an American physician and anatomist. He is sometimes referred to as Caspar Wistar the Younger, to distinguish him from his grandfather of the same name.-Biography:...
— Anatomist in colonial America. - Thomas YoungThomas Young (scientist)Thomas Young was an English polymath. He is famous for having partly deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics before Jean-François Champollion eventually expanded on his work...
— Polymath and child prodigy raised Quaker.
See also
- Relationship between religion and scienceRelationship between religion and scienceThe relationship between religion and science has been a focus of the demarcation problem. Somewhat related is the claim that science and religion may pursue knowledge using different methodologies. Whereas the scientific method basically relies on reason and empiricism, religion also seeks to...
- List of Quakers
- List of Friends Schools