Catholic Scientists: A List of Scientists, Who Are Catholic Clerics!
Mumbai
NOTE: This Article is Originally taken from The National Catholic Register Blog, written by Angelo Stagnaro. All credits goes to the author.
1. Fr. José de Acosta (1539–1600) – Jesuit missionary and naturalist who wrote one of the first detailed and realistic descriptions of the New World
2. Fr. François d'Aguilon (1567–1617) – Belgian Jesuit mathematician, physicist and architect
3. Fr. Lorenzo Albacete (1941–2014) – priest, physicist and theologian
4. Fr. Albert of Castile (c. 1460-1522) - Dominican priest and historian
5. Bishop Albert of Saxony (philosopher) (c. 1320–1390) – German bishop who wrote on logic and physics; with Buridan he helped develop the theory that was a precursor to the modern theory of inertia
6. St. Albertus Magnus (c. 1206–1280) – Dominican friar and Bishop of Regensberg who has been described as "one of the most famous precursors of modern science in the High Middle Ages." Patron Saint of Natural Sciences; Works in physics, logic, metaphysics, biology and psychology.
7. Fr. Giulio Alenio (1582–1649) – Jesuit theologian, astronomer and mathematician; was sent to the Far East as a missionary and adopted a Chinese name and customs; wrote 25 books, including a cosmography and a Life of Jesus in Chinese.
8. Fr. José María Algué (1856–1930) – priest and meteorologist who invented the barocyclonometer
9. Fr. José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez (1737–1799) – priest, scientist, historian, cartographer and meteorologist who wrote more than thirty treatises on a variety of scientific subjects
10. Fr. Francesco Castracane degli Antelminelli (1817–1899) – priest and botanist who was one of the first to introduce microphotography into the study of biology
11. Fr. Giovanni Antonelli (1818–1872) – priest and director of the Ximenian Observatory of Florence who also collaborated on the design of a prototype of the internal combustion engine
12. Fr. Nicolò Arrighetti (1709–1767) – Jesuit who wrote treatises on light, heat and electricity
13. Fr. Mariano Artigas (1938–2006) – Spanish physicist, philosopher and theologian who received the Templeton Foundation Prize in 1995
14. Fr. Giuseppe Asclepi (1706–1776) – Jesuit astronomer and physician who served as director of the Collegio Romano observatory; the lunar crater Asclepi is named after him
15. Fr. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.D., Professor of Biology and of Theology at Providence College
16. Fr. Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294) – Franciscan friar who made significant contributions to mathematics and optics and has been described as the Father of Modern Scientific Method
17. Abbot Bernardino Baldi (1533–1617) – abbot, mathematician and writer
18. Fr. Eugenio Barsanti (1821–1864) – Piarist, possible inventor of the internal combustion engine
19. Fr. Bartholomeus Amicus (1562–1649) – Jesuit, wrote on philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and the concept of vacuum and its relationship with God
20. Fr. Daniello Bartoli (1608–1685) – Bartoli and fellow Jesuit astronomer Niccolò Zucchi are credited as probably having been the first to see the equatorial belts on the planet Jupiter
21. Fr. Joseph Bayma (1816–1892) – Jesuit known for work in stereochemistry and mathematics
22. Fr. Giacopo Belgrado (1704–1789) – Jesuit professor of mathematics and physics and court mathematician who did experimental work in physics
23. Fr. Mario Bettinus (1582–1657) – Jesuit philosopher, mathematician and astronomer; lunar crater Bettinus named after him
24. Fr. Giuseppe Biancani (1566–1624) – Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and selenographer, after whom the lunar crater Blancanus is named
25. Fr. Jacques de Billy (1602–1679) – Jesuit who has produced a number of results in number theory which have been named after him; published several astronomical tables; the lunar crater Billy is named after him
26. Fr. Paolo Boccone (1633–1704) – Cistercian botanist who contributed to the fields of medicine and toxicology
27. Fr. Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848) – priest, mathematician and logician whose other interests included metaphysics, ideas, sensation and truth
28. Fr. Anselmus de Boodt (1550–1632) – priest who was one of the founders of mineralogy
29. Fr. Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1298) – Dominican friar, Bishop of Cervia and medieval Surgeon who made important contributions to antiseptic practice and anesthetics
30. Fr. Christopher Borrus (1583–1632) – Jesuit mathematician and astronomy who made observations on the magnetic variation of the compass
31. Fr. Roger Joseph Boscovich (1711–1787) – Jesuit polymath known for his contributions to modern atomic theory and astronomy
32. Fr. Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730) – Jesuit sinologist and cartographer who did his work in China
33. Fr. Michał Boym (c. 1612–1659) – Jesuit who was one of the first westerners to travel within the Chinese mainland and the author of numerous works on Asian fauna, flora and geography
34. Fr. Thomas Bradwardine (c. 1290–1349) – Archbishop of Canterbury and mathematician who helped develop the mean speed theorem; one of the Oxford Calculators
35. Fr. Martin Stanislaus Brennan (1845–1927) – priest and astronomer who wrote several books about science
36. Fr. Henri Breuil (1877–1961) – priest, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist
37. Fr. Jan Brożek (1585–1652) – Polish priest, polymath, mathematician, astronomer and physician; the most prominent Polish mathematician of the 17th century
38. Fr. Louis-Ovide Brunet (1826–1876) – priest, one of the founding fathers of Canadian botany
39. Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno (c. 1825–1888) – priest and mathematician beatified by Pope John Paul II
40. Fr. Ismaël Bullialdus (1605–1694) – priest, astronomer and member of the Royal Society; the Bullialdus crater is named in his honor
41. Fr. Jean Buridan (c. 1300 – after 1358) – priest who formulated early ideas of momentum and inertial motion and sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe
42. Fr. Roberto Busa (1913–2011) – Jesuit, wrote a lemmatization of the complete works of St. Thomas Aquinas (Index Thomisticus) which was later digitalized by IBM. Fr. Busa is the impetus for the use of alphabet, including search engines on computers and, later, the Net
43. Fr. Niccolò Cabeo (1586–1650) – Jesuit mathematician; the crater Cabeus is named in his honor
44. Fr. Nicholas Callan (1799–1846) – priest and Irish scientist best known for his work on the induction coil
45. Fr. John Cantius (1390–1473) – priest and Buridanist mathematical physicist who further developed the theory of impetus
46. Fr. Jean Baptiste Carnoy (1836–1899) – priest, has been called the Founder of the Science of Cytology
47. Fr. Giovanni di Casali (d. c. 1375) – Franciscan friar who provided a graphical analysis of the motion of accelerated bodies
48. Fr. Paolo Casati (1617–1707) – Jesuit mathematician who wrote on astronomy and vacuums; the lunar crater Casatus is named after him
49. Fr. Laurent Cassegrain (1629–1693) – priest who was the probable namesake of the Cassegrain telescope; the lunar crater Cassegrain is named after him
50. Fr. Benedetto Castelli (1578–1643) – Benedictine mathematician; long-time friend and supporter of Galileo Galilei, who was his teacher; wrote an important work on fluids in motion
51. Fr. Bonaventura Cavalieri (1598–1647) – Jesuate priest (not to be confused with Jesuit) known for his work on the problems of optics and motion, work on the precursors of infinitesimal calculus and the introduction of logarithms to Italy; his principle in geometry partially anticipated integral calculus; the lunar crater Cavalerius is named in his honor
52. Fr. Antonio José Cavanilles (1745–1804) – priest and leading Spanish taxonomic botanist of the 18th century
53. Fr. Francesco Cetti (1726–1778) – Jesuit zoologist and mathematician
54. Fr. Tommaso Ceva (1648–1737) – Jesuit mathematician and professor who wrote treatises on geometry, gravity and arithmetic
55. Fr. Christopher Clavius (1538–1612) –Jesuit astronomer and mathematician who headed the commission that yielded the Gregorian calendar; wrote influential astronomical textbook
56. Br. Guy Consolmagno (1952–) – Jesuit astronomer and planetary scientist
57. Fr. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) – Renaissance astronomer and priest famous for his heliocentric cosmology that set in motion the Copernican Revolution
58. Fr. Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) – Franciscan cosmographer, cartographer, encyclopedist and globe-maker
59. Fr. George Coyne (1933–) – Jesuit astronomer and former director of the Vatican Observatory
60. Fr. James Cullen (mathematician) (1867–1933) – Jesuit mathematician who published what is now known as Cullen numbers in number theory
61. Fr. James Curley (astronomer) (1796–1889) – Jesuit, first director of Georgetown Observatory and determined the latitude and longitude of Washington, D.C.
62. Fr. Albert Curtz (1600–1671) – Jesuit astronomer who expanded on the works of Tycho Brahe and contributed to early understanding of the moon; the lunar crater Curtius is named after him
63. Fr. Johann Baptist Cysat (1587–1657) – Jesuit mathematician and astronomer, after whom the lunar crater Cysatus is named; published the first printed European book concerning Japan; one of the first to make use of the newly developed telescope; most important work was on comets
64. Fr. Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche (1722–1769) – priest and astronomer best known for his observations of the transits of Venus
65. Fr. Ignazio Danti (1536–1586) – Dominican mathematician, astronomer, cosmographer and cartographer
66. Fr. Armand David (1826–1900) – Lazarist priest, zoologist and botanist who did important work in these fields in China
67. Fr. Francesco Denza (1834–1894) – Barnabite meteorologist, astronomer and director of Vatican Observatory
68. Fr. Václav Prokop Diviš (1698–1765) – Czech priest who studied electrical phenomena and constructed, among other inventions, the first electrified musical instrument in history
69. Fr. Alberto Dou (1915–2009) – Spanish Jesuit priest who was president of the Royal Society of Mathematics, member of the Royal Academy of Natural, Physical and Exact Sciences and one of the foremost mathematicians of his country
70. Fr. Johann Dzierzon (1811–1906) – priest and pioneering apiarist who discovered the phenomenon of parthenogenesis among bees and designed the first successful movable-frame beehive; has been described as the "Father of modern apiculture"
71. Fr. Honoré Fabri (1607–1688) – Jesuit mathematician and physicist
72. Fr. Jean-Charles de la Faille (1597–1652) – Jesuit mathematician who determined the center of gravity of the sector of a circle for the first time
73. Fr. Gabriele Falloppio (1523–1562) – priest and one of the most important anatomists and physicians of the sixteenth century; the Fallopian tubes, which extend from the uterus to the ovaries, are named for him
74. Fr. Gyula Fényi (1845–1927) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Haynald Observatory; noted for his observations of the sun; the lunar crater Fényi is named after him
75. Fr. Louis Feuillée (1660–1732) – Minim explorer, astronomer, geographer and botanist
76. Placidus Fixlmillner (1721–1791) – Benedictine priest and one of the first astronomers to compute the orbit of Uranus
77. Fr. Paolo Frisi (1728–1784) – priest, mathematician and astronomer who did significant work in hydraulics
78. Fr. José Gabriel Funes (1963– ) – Jesuit astronomer and current director of the Vatican Observatory
79. Fr. Lorenzo Fazzini (1787–1837) – priest and physicist born in Vieste and working in Naples
80. Fr. Joseph Galien (1699 – c. 1762) – Dominican professor who wrote on aeronautics, hailstorms and airships
81. Abbot Jean Gallois (1632–1707) – French scholar, abbot and member of Academie des sciences
82. Fr. Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) – French priest, astronomer and mathematician who published the first data on the transit of Mercury; best known intellectual project attempted to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christianity
83. Fr. Agostino Gemelli (1878–1959) – Franciscan physician and psychologist; founded Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan
84. Fr. Johannes von Gmunden (c. 1380–1442) – Priest, mathematician and astronomer who compiled astronomical tables; Asteroid 15955 Johannesgmunden named in his honor
85. Fr. Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645–1700) – priest, polymath, mathematician, astronomer and cartographer; drew the first map of all of New Spain
86. Fr. Andrew Gordon (Benedictine) (1712–1751) – Benedictine monk, physicist and inventor who made the first electric motor
87. Fr. Christoph Grienberger (1561–1636) – Jesuit astronomer after whom the lunar crater Gruemberger is named; verified Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons.
88. Fr. Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1618–1663) – Jesuit who discovered the diffraction of light (indeed coined the term "diffraction"), investigated the free fall of objects and built and used instruments to measure lunar geological features
89. Fr. Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175 – 1253) – bishop who was one of the most knowledgeable men of the Middle Ages; has been called "the first man ever to write down a complete set of steps for performing a scientific experiment"
90. Fr. Paul Guldin (1577–1643) – Jesuit mathematician and astronomer who discovered the Guldinus theorem to determine the surface and the volume of a solid of revolution
91. Fr. Bartolomeu de Gusmão (1685–1724) – Jesuit known for his early work on lighter-than-air airship design
92. Fr. Johann Georg Hagen (1847–1930) – Jesuit director of the Georgetown and Vatican Observatories; the lunar crater Hagen is named after him
93. Abbot Nicholas Halma (1755–1828) – French abbot, mathematician and translator
94. Fr. Jean-Baptiste du Hamel (1624–1706) – French priest, natural philosopher and secretary of the Academie Royale des Sciences
95. Fr. René Just Haüy (1743–1822) – priest known as the Father of Crystallography
96. Fr. Maximilian Hell (1720–1792) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Vienna Observatory; the lunar crater Hell is named after him
97. Fr. Michał Heller (1936– ) – Polish priest, Templeton Prize winner and prolific writer on numerous scientific topics
98. Fr. Lorenz Hengler (1806–1858) – priest often credited as the inventor of the horizontal pendulum
99. Fr. Hermann of Reichenau (1013–1054) – Benedictine historian, music theorist, astronomer and mathematician
100. Fr. Pierre Marie Heude (1836–1902) – Jesuit missionary and zoologist who studied the natural history of Eastern Asia
101. Fr. Franz von Paula Hladnik (1773–1844) – priest and botanist who discovered several new kinds of plants and certain genera have been named after him
102. Fr. Giovanni Battista Hodierna (1597–1660) – priest and astronomer who catalogued nebulous objects and developed an early microscope
103. Fr. Victor-Alphonse Huard (1853–1929) – priest, naturalist, educator, writer and promoter of the natural sciences
104. Fr. Maximus von Imhof (1758–1817) – German Augustinian physicist and director of the Munich Academy of Sciences
105. Fr. Giovanni Inghirami (1779–1851) – Italian Piarist astronomer who has a lunar valley named after him as well as a crater
106. Fr. François Jacquier (1711–1788) – Franciscan mathematician and physicist; at his death he was connected with nearly all the great scientific and literary societies of Europe
107. Fr. Stanley Jaki (1924–2009) – Benedictine priest and prolific writer who wrote on the relationship between science and theology
108. Fr. Ányos Jedlik (1800–1895) – Benedictine engineer, physicist and inventor; considered by Hungarians and Slovaks to be the unsung Father of the dynamo and electric motor
109. Fr. Georg Joseph Kamel (1661–1706) – Jesuit missionary and botanist who established the first pharmacy in the Philippines
110. Fr. Karl Kehrle (1898–1996) – Benedictine Monk of Buckfast Abbey, England; beekeeper; world authority on bee breeding, developer of the Buckfast bee which is the hybrid commonly used currently
111. Fr. Eusebio Kino (1645–1711) – Jesuit missionary, mathematician, astronomer and cartographer; drew maps based on his explorations first showing that California was not an island, as then believed; published an astronomical treatise in Mexico City of his observations of the Kirsch comet
112. Fr. Otto Kippes (1905–1994) – priest acknowledged for his work in asteroid orbit calculations; the main belt asteroid 1780 Kippes was named in his honor
113. Fr. Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) – Jesuit who has been called the Father of Egyptology and "Master of a hundred arts"; wrote an encyclopedia of China; one of the first people to observe microbes through a microscope
114. Fr. Wenceslas Pantaleon Kirwitzer (1588–1626) – Jesuit astronomer and missionary who published observations of comets
115. Fr. Jan Krzysztof Kluk (1739–1796) – priest, naturalist agronomist and entomologist who wrote a multi-volume work on Polish animal life
116. Fr. Marian Wolfgang Koller (1792–1866) – Benedictine professor who wrote on astronomy, physics and meteorology
117. Fr. Franz Xaver Kugler (1862–1929) – Jesuit chemist, mathematician and Assyriologist who is most noted for his studies of cuneiform tablets and Babylonian astronomy
118. Bl. Ramon Llull (ca. 1232 – ca. 1315) Majorcan writer and philosopher, logician and a Franciscan tertiary considered a pioneer of computation theory. Created the world's first analog computer
119. Fr. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713–1762) – French deacon and astronomer noted for cataloguing stars, nebulous objects and constellations
120. Fr. Eugene Lafont (1837–1908) – Jesuit physicist, astronomer and founder of the first Scientific Society in India
121. Fr. Antoine de Laloubère (1600–1664) – Jesuit and first mathematician to study the properties of the helix
122. Fr. Bernard Lamy (1640–1715) – Oratorian philosopher and mathematician who wrote on the parallelogram of forces
123. Fr. Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833) – priest and entomologist whose works describing insects assigned many of the insect taxa still in use today
124. Abbot Georges Lemaître (1894–1966) – Belgian priest and Father of the Big Bang Theory
125. Fr. Thomas Linacre (c. 1460–1524) – English priest, humanist, translator and physician
126. Fr. Francis Line (1595–1675) – Jesuit magnetic clock and sundial maker who disagreed with some of the findings of Newton and Boyle
127. Fr. Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (1606–1682) – Cistercian who wrote on a variety of scientific subjects, including probability theory
128. Fr. Jean Mabillon (1632–1707) – Benedictine monk and scholar, considered the founder of paleography and diplomatics
129. Fr. James B. Macelwane (1883–1956) – "the best-known Jesuit seismologist" and "one of the most honored practitioners of the science of all time"; wrote the first textbook on seismology in America
130. Fr. John MacEnery (1797–1841) – archaeologist who investigated the Palaeolithic remains at Kents Cavern
131. Fr. Paul McNally (1890–1955) – Jesuit astronomer and director of Georgetown Observatory; the lunar crater McNally is named after him
132. Fr. Manuel Magri (1851–1907) – Jesuit ethnographer, archaeologist and writer; one of Malta's pioneers in archaeology
133. Fr. Emmanuel Maignan (1601–1676) – Minim physicist and professor of medicine who published works on gnomonics and perspective
134. Fr. Charles Malapert (1581–1630) – Jesuit writer, astronomer and proponent of Aristotelian cosmology; also known for observations of sunpots and of the lunar surface and the lunar crater Malapert is named after him
135. Fr. Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715) – Oratorian philosopher who studied physics, optics and the laws of motion and disseminated the ideas of Descartes and Leibniz
136. Fr. Marcin of Urzędów (c. 1500–1573) – priest, physician, pharmacist and botanist
137. Fr. Joseph Maréchal (1878–1944) – Jesuit philosopher and psychologist
138. Fr. Marie-Victorin (1885–1944) – Christian Brother and botanist best known as the Father of the Jardin Botanique de Montréal
139. Fr. Edme Mariotte (c. 1620–1684) – priest and physicist who recognized Boyle's Law and wrote about the nature of color
140. Fr. Francesco Maurolico (1494–1575) – Benedictine who made contributions to the fields of geometry, optics, conics, mechanics, music and astronomy and gave the first known proof by mathematical induction
141. Fr. Christian Mayer (astronomer) (1719–1783) – Jesuit astronomer most noted for pioneering the study of binary stars
142. Fr. James Robert McConnell (1915–1999) – Irish theoretical physicist, pontifical academician, Monsignor
143. Fr. Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) – Augustinian monk and Father of genetics
144. Fr. Pietro Mengoli (1626–1686) – priest and mathematician who first posed the famous Basel Problem
145. Fr. Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914) – priest, volcanologist and director of the Vesuvius Observatory who is best remembered today for his Mercalli scale for measuring earthquakes which is still in use
146. Fr. Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) – Minim philosopher, mathematician and music theorist who is often referred to as the "Father of acoustics"
147. Fr. Paul of Middelburg (1446–1534) – Bishop of Fossombrone who wrote important works on the reform of the calendar
148. Fr. Maciej Miechowita (1457–1523) – priest who wrote the first accurate geographical and ethnographical description of Eastern Europe, as well as two medical treatises
149. Fr. François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno (1804–1884) – Jesuit physicist and mathematician; was an expositor of science and translator rather than an original investigator
150. Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (1740–1829) – Jesuit naturalist, historian, botanist, ornithologist and geographer
151. Fr. Louis Moréri (1643–1680) – 17th-century priest and encyclopedist
152. Fr. Théodore Moret (1602–1667) – Jesuit mathematician and author of the first mathematical dissertations ever defended in Prague; the lunar crater Moretus is named after him
153. Fr. Landell de Moura (1861–1928) – priest and inventor who was the first to accomplish the transmission of the human voice by a wireless machine
154. Abbot Gabriel Mouton (1618–1694) – abbot, mathematician, astronomer and early proponent of the metric system
155. Fr. Jozef Murgaš (1864–1929) – priest who contributed to wireless telegraphy and help develop mobile communications and wireless transmission of information and human voice
156. Fr. José Celestino Mutis (1732–1808) – Priest, botanist and mathematician who led the Royal Botanical Expedition of the New World
157. Fr. Jean François Niceron (1613–1646) – Minim mathematician who studied geometrical optics
158. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) – Cardinal, philosopher, jurist, mathematician, astronomer and one of the great geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century
159. Fr. Julius Nieuwland (1878–1936) – Holy Cross priest, known for his contributions to acetylene research and its use as the basis for one type of synthetic rubber, which eventually led to the invention of neoprene by DuPont
160. Abbot Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700–1770) – abbot and physicist who discovered the phenomenon of osmosis in natural membranes
161. Fr. Hugo Obermaier (1877–1946) – priest, prehistorian and anthropologist who is known for his work on the diffusion of mankind in Europe during the Ice Age, as well as his work with north Spanish cave art
162. Fr. William of Ockham (c. 1288 – c. 1348) – Franciscan Scholastic who wrote significant works on logic, physics and theology; known for Occam's razor-principle
163. Bishop Nicole Oresme (c. 1323–1382) – one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the later Middle Ages; economist, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lisieux and competent translator; one of the most original thinkers of the 14th century
164. Fr. Barnaba Oriani (1752–1832) – Barnabite geodesist, astronomer and scientist whose greatest achievement was his detailed research of the planet Uranus; also known for Oriani's Theorem
165. Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk (1965–) – priest, neuroscientist and writer
166. Fr. Luca Pacioli (c. 1446–1517) – Franciscan friar who published several works on mathematics; often regarded as the "Father of accounting"
167. Fr. Ignace-Gaston Pardies (1636–1673) – Jesuit physicist known for his correspondence with Newton and Descartes
168. Fr. Franciscus Patricius (1529–1597) – priest, cosmic theorist, philosopher and Renaissance scholar
169. Fr. John Peckham (1230–1292) – Archbishop of Canterbury and early practitioner of experimental science
170. Abbot Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580–1637) – abbot and astronomer who discovered the Orion Nebula; lunar crater Peirescius named in his honor
171. Fr. Stephen Joseph Perry (1833–1889) – Jesuit astronomer and Fellow of the Royal Society; made frequent observations of Jupiter's satellites, of stellar occultations, of comets, of meteorites, of sun spots and faculae
172. Fr. Giambattista Pianciani (1784–1862) – Jesuit mathematician and physicist
173. Fr. Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826) – Theatine mathematician and astronomer who discovered Ceres, today known as the largest member of the asteroid belt; also did important work cataloguing stars
174. Fr. Jean Picard (1620–1682) – priest and first person to measure the size of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy; also developed what became the standard method for measuring the right ascension of a celestial object; the PICARD mission, an orbiting solar observatory, is named in his honor
175. Fr. Edward Pigot (1858–1929) – Jesuit seismologist and astronomer
176. Fr. Alexandre Guy Pingré (1711–1796) – French priest astronomer and naval geographer; the lunar crater Pingré is named after him, as is the asteroid 12719 Pingré
177. Fr. Andrew Pinsent (1966–) – priest whose current research includes the application of insights from autism and social cognition to 'second-person' accounts of moral perception and character formation; his previous scientific research contributed to the DELPHI experiment at CERN
178. Cardinal Jean Baptiste François Pitra (1812–1889) – Benedictine cardinal, archaeologist and theologian who noteworthy for his great archaeological discoveries
179. Fr. Charles Plumier (1646–1704) – Minim friar who is considered one of the most important botanical explorers of his time
180. Fr. Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt (1728–1810) – Jesuit astronomer and mathematician; granted the title of the King's Astronomer; the lunar crater Poczobutt is named after him
181. Fr. Léon Abel Provancher (1820–1892) – priest and naturalist devoted to the study and description of the fauna and flora of Canada; his pioneer work won for him the appellation of the "Father of Canadian Natural History"
182. Fr. Louis Receveur (1757–1788) – Franciscan naturalist and astronomer; described as being as close as one could get to being an ecologist in the 18th century
183. Fr. Franz Reinzer (1661–1708) – Jesuit who wrote an in-depth meteorological, astrological and political compendium covering topics such as comets, meteors, lightning, winds, fossils, metals, bodies of water and subterranean treasures and secrets of the earth
184. Bishop Louis Rendu (1789–1859) – bishop who wrote an important book on the mechanisms of glacial motion; the Rendu Glacier, Alaska, US and Mount Rendu, Antarctica are named for him
185. Fr. Vincenzo Riccati (1707–1775) – Italian Jesuit mathematician and physicist
186. Fr. Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) – one of the founding fathers of the Jesuit China Mission and co-author of the first European-Chinese dictionary. (On route to being a saint)
187. Fr. Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598–1671) – Jesuit astronomer who authored Almagestum novum, an influential encyclopedia of astronomy; the first person to measure the rate of acceleration of a freely falling body; created a selenograph with Father Grimaldi that now adorns the entrance at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
188. Abbot Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336) – abbot, renowned clockmaker and one of the initiators of western trigonometry
189. Fr. Johannes Ruysch (c. 1460–1533) – priest, explorer, cartographer and astronomer who created the second oldest known printed representation of the New World
190. Fr. Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri (1667–1733) – Jesuit mathematician and geometer
191. Fr. Johannes de Sacrobosco (c. 1195 – c. 1256) – Irish monk and astronomer who wrote the authoritative medieval astronomy text Tractatus de Sphaera; his Algorismus was the first text to introduce Hindu-Arabic numerals and procedures into the European university curriculum; the lunar crater Sacrobosco is named after him
192. Fr. Gregoire de Saint-Vincent (1584–1667) – Jesuit mathematician who made important contributions to the study of the hyperbola
193. Fr. Alphonse Antonio de Sarasa (1618–1667) – Jesuit mathematician who contributed to the understanding of logarithms
194. Fr. Christoph Scheiner (c. 1573–1650) – Jesuit physicist, astronomer and inventor of the pantograph; wrote on a wide range of scientific subjects
195. Fr. Wilhelm Schmidt (linguist) (1868–1954) – Austrian priest, linguist, anthropologist and ethnologist
196. Fr. George Schoener (1864–1941) – priest who became known in the United States as the "Padre of the Roses" for his experiments in rose breeding
197. Fr. Gaspar Schott (1608–1666) – Jesuit physicist, astronomer and natural philosopher who is most widely known for his works on hydraulic and mechanical instruments
198. Fr. Franz Paula von Schrank (1747–1835) – priest, botanist, entomologist and prolific writer
199. Fr. Berthold Schwarz (c. 14th century) – Franciscan friar and reputed inventor of gunpowder and firearms
200. Fr. Anton Maria Schyrleus of Rheita (1604–1660) – Capuchin astronomer and optrician who built Kepler's telescope
201. Fr. George Mary Searle (1839–1918) – Paulist astronomer and professor who discovered six galaxies
202. Fr. Angelo Secchi (1818–1878) – Jesuit pioneer in astronomical spectroscopy and one of the first scientists to state authoritatively that the sun is a star
203. Fr. Alessandro Serpieri (1823–1885) – priest, astronomer and seismologist who studied shooting stars and was the first to introduce the concept of the seismic radiant
204. Fr. Gerolamo Sersale (1584–1654) – Jesuit astronomer and selenographer; his map of the moon can be seen in the Naval Observatory of San Fernando; the lunar crater Sirsalis is named after him
205. Fr. Benedict Sestini (1816–1890) – Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and architect; studied sunspots and eclipses; wrote textbooks on a variety of mathematical subjects
206. Fr. René François Walter de Sluse (1622–1685) – Priest and mathematician with a family of curves named after him
207. Fr. Domingo de Soto (1494–1560) – Spanish Dominican priest and professor at the University of Salamanca; in his commentaries to Aristotle he proposed that free falling bodies undergo constant acceleration
208. Fr. Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799) – priest, biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction and essentially discovered echolocation; his research of biogenesis paved the way for the investigations of Louis Pasteur
209. Fr. Valentin Stansel (1621–1705) – Jesuit astronomer who made important observations of comets
210. Fr. Johan Stein (1871–1951) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory, which he modernized and relocated to Castel Gandolfo; the crater Stein on the far side of the Moon is named after him
211. Bl. Nicolas Steno (1638–1686) – Bishop beatified by Pope John Paul II who is often called the Father of geology and stratigraphy, and is known for Steno's principles
212. Pope Sylvester II (c. 946–1003) – Prolific scholar who endorsed and promoted Arabic knowledge of arithmetic, mathematics and astronomy in Europe, reintroducing the abacus and armillary sphere which had been lost to Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era
213. Fr. Alexius Sylvius Polonus (1593 – c. 1653) – Jesuit astronomer who studied sunspots and published a work on calendariography
214. Fr. Ignacije Szentmartony (1718–1793) – Jesuit cartographer, mathematician and astronomer who became a member of the expedition that worked on the rearrangement of the frontiers among colonies in South America
215. Fr. André Tacquet (1612–1660) – Jesuit mathematician whose work laid the groundwork for the eventual discovery of calculus
216. Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) – Jesuit paleontologist and geologist who took part in the discovery of Peking Man
217. Fr. Francesco Lana de Terzi (c. 1631–1687) – Jesuit referred to as the Father of Aviation for his pioneering efforts; he also developed a blind writing alphabet prior to Braille.
218. Fr. Theodoric of Freiberg (c. 1250 – c. 1310) – Dominican theologian and physicist who gave the first correct geometrical analysis of the rainbow
219. Fr. Joseph Tiefenthaler (1710–1785) – Jesuit who was one of the earliest European geographers to write about India
220. Fr. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719–1797) – priest and physicist who studied atmospheric electricity and did important work with lightning rods; the asteroid 23685 Toaldo is named for him
221. Fr. José Torrubia (c. 1700–1768) – Franciscan linguist, scientist, collector of fossils and books and writer on historical, political and religious subjects
222. Fr. Franz de Paula Triesnecker (1745–1817) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Vienna Observatory; published a number of treatises on astronomy and geography; the lunar crater Triesnecker is named after him
223. Fr. Luca Valerio (1552–1618) – Jesuit mathematician who developed ways to find volumes and centers of gravity of solid bodies
224. Fr. Pierre Varignon (1654–1722) – priest and mathematician whose principle contributions were to statics and mechanics; created a mechanical explanation of gravitation
225. Fr. Jacques de Vaucanson (1709–1782) – French Minim friar inventor and artist who was responsible for the creation of impressive and innovative automata and machines such as the first completely automated loom
226. Fr. Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746–1822) – priest who discovered the Venturi effect
227. Bishop Fausto Veranzio (c. 1551–1617) – Bishop, polymath, inventor and lexicographer
228. Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688) – Jesuit astronomer and mathematician; designed what some claim to be the first ever self-propelled vehicle, which many claim this as the world's first automobile
229. Fr. Francesco de Vico (1805–1848) – Jesuit astronomer who discovered or co-discovered a number of comets; also made observations of Saturn and the gaps in its rings; the lunar crater De Vico and the asteroid 20103 de Vico are named after him
230. Fr. Vincent of Beauvais (c.1190–c.1264) – Dominican who wrote the most influential encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
231. Fr. Benito Viñes (1837–1893) – Jesuit meteorologist who made the first weather model to predict the trajectory of a hurricane
232. Archbishop János Vitéz (archbishop) (c.1405–1472) – Archbishop, astronomer and mathematician
233. Fr. Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470–1520) – German priest and cartographer who, along with Matthias Ringmann, is credited with the first recorded usage of the word America
234. Fr. Godefroy Wendelin (1580–1667) – priest and astronomer who recognized that Kepler's third law applied to the satellites of Jupiter; the lunar crate Vendelinus is named in his honor
235. Fr. Johannes Werner (1468–1522) – priest, mathematician, astronomer and geographer
236. Fr. Witelo (c. 1230 – after 1280, before 1314) – Friar, physicist, natural philosopher and mathematician; lunar crater Vitello named in his honor; his Perspectiva powerfully influenced later scientists, in particular Johannes Kepler
237. Fr. Julian Tenison Woods (1832–1889) – Passionist geologist and mineralogist
238. Fr. Theodor Wulf (1868–1946) – Jesuit physicist who was one of the first experimenters to detect excess atmospheric radiation
239. Fr. Franz Xaver von Wulfen (1728–1805) – Jesuit botanist, mineralogist and alpinist
240. Fr. John Zahm (1851–1921) – Holy Cross priest and South American explorer
241. Fr. Giuseppe Zamboni (1776–1846) – priest and physicist who invented the Zamboni pile, an early electric battery similar to the Voltaic pile
242. Fr. Francesco Zantedeschi (1797–1873) – priest who was among the first to recognize the marked absorption by the atmosphere of red, yellow and green light; published papers on the production of electric currents in closed circuits by the approach and withdrawal of a magnet, thereby anticipating Michael Faraday's classical experiments of 1831
243. Fr. Niccolò Zucchi (1586–1670) – claimed to have tried to build a reflecting telescope in 1616 but abandoned the idea (maybe due to the poor quality of the mirror); may have been the first to see the belts on the planet Jupiter (1630)
244. Fr. Giovanni Battista Zupi (c. 1590–1650) – Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and first person to discover that the planet Mercury had orbital phases; the lunar crater Zupus is named after him
Ahmedabad
NOTE: This Article is Originally taken from The National Catholic Register Blog, written by Angelo Stagnaro. All credits goes to the author.
One of the most cherished myths to which fundamentalist
atheists cling is the misguided and downright stupid idea that the Catholic
Church and Catholics are somehow anti-science. Nothing could be further from
the truth (which is par for the course for fundamentalist atheists.) In fact,
Jesuit priests and brothers have contributed so much to the study of
earthquakes, the study of seismology is often referred to as "the Jesuit
science."
Of course, like everything else fundamentalist atheist say,
it's done without the benefit of reading actual books.
Instead, their "feelings" are the result of "truthiness."
The fastest way to make a fundamentalist atheist angry is to ask her from
whence do her ideas come. Don’t worry, even if she insists (i.e., lies) about
having read a book from which they extracted their "knowledge,"
she'll be suddenly struck by a wave of forgetfulness as to the book's title and
author. But, if someone can remember neither a book's title and author, the
claims of "pristine" memory of what they supposedly read in the
book can easily be ignored.
The total list of Catholic priest/scientists and
mathematicians would be impossible to compile but this isn't a problem as most
atheists can't name three Catholic scientists. In an effort to disrupt and
destroy atheist "truthiness," I offer here a list of some Catholic clerics, including priests,
brothers, bishops, abbots, cardinals, popes and, in at least four cases,
saints, who have made major contributions to science. These men are
specifically cleric-scientists and mathematicians and not lay Catholic
scientists such as Kenneth R. Miller, Louis Pasteur and Blaise Pascal. For
those interested in learning more about these men, the following links attached
to their names are all to Wikipedia articles.
And thus, to fundamentalist atheists, I say what we learned
in Latin class, "Exsorbebo. Perdatis."
Men of the Church and Men of Science
[Editor's note: This list is largely taken from Wikipedia, with some additions by the author.]
1. Fr. José de Acosta (1539–1600) – Jesuit missionary and naturalist who wrote one of the first detailed and realistic descriptions of the New World
2. Fr. François d'Aguilon (1567–1617) – Belgian Jesuit mathematician, physicist and architect
3. Fr. Lorenzo Albacete (1941–2014) – priest, physicist and theologian
4. Fr. Albert of Castile (c. 1460-1522) - Dominican priest and historian
5. Bishop Albert of Saxony (philosopher) (c. 1320–1390) – German bishop who wrote on logic and physics; with Buridan he helped develop the theory that was a precursor to the modern theory of inertia
6. St. Albertus Magnus (c. 1206–1280) – Dominican friar and Bishop of Regensberg who has been described as "one of the most famous precursors of modern science in the High Middle Ages." Patron Saint of Natural Sciences; Works in physics, logic, metaphysics, biology and psychology.
7. Fr. Giulio Alenio (1582–1649) – Jesuit theologian, astronomer and mathematician; was sent to the Far East as a missionary and adopted a Chinese name and customs; wrote 25 books, including a cosmography and a Life of Jesus in Chinese.
8. Fr. José María Algué (1856–1930) – priest and meteorologist who invented the barocyclonometer
9. Fr. José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez (1737–1799) – priest, scientist, historian, cartographer and meteorologist who wrote more than thirty treatises on a variety of scientific subjects
10. Fr. Francesco Castracane degli Antelminelli (1817–1899) – priest and botanist who was one of the first to introduce microphotography into the study of biology
11. Fr. Giovanni Antonelli (1818–1872) – priest and director of the Ximenian Observatory of Florence who also collaborated on the design of a prototype of the internal combustion engine
12. Fr. Nicolò Arrighetti (1709–1767) – Jesuit who wrote treatises on light, heat and electricity
13. Fr. Mariano Artigas (1938–2006) – Spanish physicist, philosopher and theologian who received the Templeton Foundation Prize in 1995
14. Fr. Giuseppe Asclepi (1706–1776) – Jesuit astronomer and physician who served as director of the Collegio Romano observatory; the lunar crater Asclepi is named after him
15. Fr. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.D., Professor of Biology and of Theology at Providence College
16. Fr. Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294) – Franciscan friar who made significant contributions to mathematics and optics and has been described as the Father of Modern Scientific Method
17. Abbot Bernardino Baldi (1533–1617) – abbot, mathematician and writer
18. Fr. Eugenio Barsanti (1821–1864) – Piarist, possible inventor of the internal combustion engine
19. Fr. Bartholomeus Amicus (1562–1649) – Jesuit, wrote on philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and the concept of vacuum and its relationship with God
20. Fr. Daniello Bartoli (1608–1685) – Bartoli and fellow Jesuit astronomer Niccolò Zucchi are credited as probably having been the first to see the equatorial belts on the planet Jupiter
21. Fr. Joseph Bayma (1816–1892) – Jesuit known for work in stereochemistry and mathematics
22. Fr. Giacopo Belgrado (1704–1789) – Jesuit professor of mathematics and physics and court mathematician who did experimental work in physics
23. Fr. Mario Bettinus (1582–1657) – Jesuit philosopher, mathematician and astronomer; lunar crater Bettinus named after him
24. Fr. Giuseppe Biancani (1566–1624) – Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and selenographer, after whom the lunar crater Blancanus is named
25. Fr. Jacques de Billy (1602–1679) – Jesuit who has produced a number of results in number theory which have been named after him; published several astronomical tables; the lunar crater Billy is named after him
26. Fr. Paolo Boccone (1633–1704) – Cistercian botanist who contributed to the fields of medicine and toxicology
27. Fr. Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848) – priest, mathematician and logician whose other interests included metaphysics, ideas, sensation and truth
28. Fr. Anselmus de Boodt (1550–1632) – priest who was one of the founders of mineralogy
29. Fr. Theodoric Borgognoni (1205–1298) – Dominican friar, Bishop of Cervia and medieval Surgeon who made important contributions to antiseptic practice and anesthetics
30. Fr. Christopher Borrus (1583–1632) – Jesuit mathematician and astronomy who made observations on the magnetic variation of the compass
31. Fr. Roger Joseph Boscovich (1711–1787) – Jesuit polymath known for his contributions to modern atomic theory and astronomy
32. Fr. Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730) – Jesuit sinologist and cartographer who did his work in China
33. Fr. Michał Boym (c. 1612–1659) – Jesuit who was one of the first westerners to travel within the Chinese mainland and the author of numerous works on Asian fauna, flora and geography
34. Fr. Thomas Bradwardine (c. 1290–1349) – Archbishop of Canterbury and mathematician who helped develop the mean speed theorem; one of the Oxford Calculators
35. Fr. Martin Stanislaus Brennan (1845–1927) – priest and astronomer who wrote several books about science
36. Fr. Henri Breuil (1877–1961) – priest, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist
37. Fr. Jan Brożek (1585–1652) – Polish priest, polymath, mathematician, astronomer and physician; the most prominent Polish mathematician of the 17th century
38. Fr. Louis-Ovide Brunet (1826–1876) – priest, one of the founding fathers of Canadian botany
39. Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno (c. 1825–1888) – priest and mathematician beatified by Pope John Paul II
40. Fr. Ismaël Bullialdus (1605–1694) – priest, astronomer and member of the Royal Society; the Bullialdus crater is named in his honor
41. Fr. Jean Buridan (c. 1300 – after 1358) – priest who formulated early ideas of momentum and inertial motion and sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe
42. Fr. Roberto Busa (1913–2011) – Jesuit, wrote a lemmatization of the complete works of St. Thomas Aquinas (Index Thomisticus) which was later digitalized by IBM. Fr. Busa is the impetus for the use of alphabet, including search engines on computers and, later, the Net
43. Fr. Niccolò Cabeo (1586–1650) – Jesuit mathematician; the crater Cabeus is named in his honor
44. Fr. Nicholas Callan (1799–1846) – priest and Irish scientist best known for his work on the induction coil
45. Fr. John Cantius (1390–1473) – priest and Buridanist mathematical physicist who further developed the theory of impetus
46. Fr. Jean Baptiste Carnoy (1836–1899) – priest, has been called the Founder of the Science of Cytology
47. Fr. Giovanni di Casali (d. c. 1375) – Franciscan friar who provided a graphical analysis of the motion of accelerated bodies
48. Fr. Paolo Casati (1617–1707) – Jesuit mathematician who wrote on astronomy and vacuums; the lunar crater Casatus is named after him
49. Fr. Laurent Cassegrain (1629–1693) – priest who was the probable namesake of the Cassegrain telescope; the lunar crater Cassegrain is named after him
50. Fr. Benedetto Castelli (1578–1643) – Benedictine mathematician; long-time friend and supporter of Galileo Galilei, who was his teacher; wrote an important work on fluids in motion
51. Fr. Bonaventura Cavalieri (1598–1647) – Jesuate priest (not to be confused with Jesuit) known for his work on the problems of optics and motion, work on the precursors of infinitesimal calculus and the introduction of logarithms to Italy; his principle in geometry partially anticipated integral calculus; the lunar crater Cavalerius is named in his honor
52. Fr. Antonio José Cavanilles (1745–1804) – priest and leading Spanish taxonomic botanist of the 18th century
53. Fr. Francesco Cetti (1726–1778) – Jesuit zoologist and mathematician
54. Fr. Tommaso Ceva (1648–1737) – Jesuit mathematician and professor who wrote treatises on geometry, gravity and arithmetic
55. Fr. Christopher Clavius (1538–1612) –Jesuit astronomer and mathematician who headed the commission that yielded the Gregorian calendar; wrote influential astronomical textbook
56. Br. Guy Consolmagno (1952–) – Jesuit astronomer and planetary scientist
57. Fr. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) – Renaissance astronomer and priest famous for his heliocentric cosmology that set in motion the Copernican Revolution
58. Fr. Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) – Franciscan cosmographer, cartographer, encyclopedist and globe-maker
59. Fr. George Coyne (1933–) – Jesuit astronomer and former director of the Vatican Observatory
60. Fr. James Cullen (mathematician) (1867–1933) – Jesuit mathematician who published what is now known as Cullen numbers in number theory
61. Fr. James Curley (astronomer) (1796–1889) – Jesuit, first director of Georgetown Observatory and determined the latitude and longitude of Washington, D.C.
62. Fr. Albert Curtz (1600–1671) – Jesuit astronomer who expanded on the works of Tycho Brahe and contributed to early understanding of the moon; the lunar crater Curtius is named after him
63. Fr. Johann Baptist Cysat (1587–1657) – Jesuit mathematician and astronomer, after whom the lunar crater Cysatus is named; published the first printed European book concerning Japan; one of the first to make use of the newly developed telescope; most important work was on comets
64. Fr. Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche (1722–1769) – priest and astronomer best known for his observations of the transits of Venus
65. Fr. Ignazio Danti (1536–1586) – Dominican mathematician, astronomer, cosmographer and cartographer
66. Fr. Armand David (1826–1900) – Lazarist priest, zoologist and botanist who did important work in these fields in China
67. Fr. Francesco Denza (1834–1894) – Barnabite meteorologist, astronomer and director of Vatican Observatory
68. Fr. Václav Prokop Diviš (1698–1765) – Czech priest who studied electrical phenomena and constructed, among other inventions, the first electrified musical instrument in history
69. Fr. Alberto Dou (1915–2009) – Spanish Jesuit priest who was president of the Royal Society of Mathematics, member of the Royal Academy of Natural, Physical and Exact Sciences and one of the foremost mathematicians of his country
70. Fr. Johann Dzierzon (1811–1906) – priest and pioneering apiarist who discovered the phenomenon of parthenogenesis among bees and designed the first successful movable-frame beehive; has been described as the "Father of modern apiculture"
71. Fr. Honoré Fabri (1607–1688) – Jesuit mathematician and physicist
72. Fr. Jean-Charles de la Faille (1597–1652) – Jesuit mathematician who determined the center of gravity of the sector of a circle for the first time
73. Fr. Gabriele Falloppio (1523–1562) – priest and one of the most important anatomists and physicians of the sixteenth century; the Fallopian tubes, which extend from the uterus to the ovaries, are named for him
74. Fr. Gyula Fényi (1845–1927) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Haynald Observatory; noted for his observations of the sun; the lunar crater Fényi is named after him
75. Fr. Louis Feuillée (1660–1732) – Minim explorer, astronomer, geographer and botanist
76. Placidus Fixlmillner (1721–1791) – Benedictine priest and one of the first astronomers to compute the orbit of Uranus
77. Fr. Paolo Frisi (1728–1784) – priest, mathematician and astronomer who did significant work in hydraulics
78. Fr. José Gabriel Funes (1963– ) – Jesuit astronomer and current director of the Vatican Observatory
79. Fr. Lorenzo Fazzini (1787–1837) – priest and physicist born in Vieste and working in Naples
80. Fr. Joseph Galien (1699 – c. 1762) – Dominican professor who wrote on aeronautics, hailstorms and airships
81. Abbot Jean Gallois (1632–1707) – French scholar, abbot and member of Academie des sciences
82. Fr. Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) – French priest, astronomer and mathematician who published the first data on the transit of Mercury; best known intellectual project attempted to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christianity
83. Fr. Agostino Gemelli (1878–1959) – Franciscan physician and psychologist; founded Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan
84. Fr. Johannes von Gmunden (c. 1380–1442) – Priest, mathematician and astronomer who compiled astronomical tables; Asteroid 15955 Johannesgmunden named in his honor
85. Fr. Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645–1700) – priest, polymath, mathematician, astronomer and cartographer; drew the first map of all of New Spain
86. Fr. Andrew Gordon (Benedictine) (1712–1751) – Benedictine monk, physicist and inventor who made the first electric motor
87. Fr. Christoph Grienberger (1561–1636) – Jesuit astronomer after whom the lunar crater Gruemberger is named; verified Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons.
88. Fr. Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1618–1663) – Jesuit who discovered the diffraction of light (indeed coined the term "diffraction"), investigated the free fall of objects and built and used instruments to measure lunar geological features
89. Fr. Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175 – 1253) – bishop who was one of the most knowledgeable men of the Middle Ages; has been called "the first man ever to write down a complete set of steps for performing a scientific experiment"
90. Fr. Paul Guldin (1577–1643) – Jesuit mathematician and astronomer who discovered the Guldinus theorem to determine the surface and the volume of a solid of revolution
91. Fr. Bartolomeu de Gusmão (1685–1724) – Jesuit known for his early work on lighter-than-air airship design
92. Fr. Johann Georg Hagen (1847–1930) – Jesuit director of the Georgetown and Vatican Observatories; the lunar crater Hagen is named after him
93. Abbot Nicholas Halma (1755–1828) – French abbot, mathematician and translator
94. Fr. Jean-Baptiste du Hamel (1624–1706) – French priest, natural philosopher and secretary of the Academie Royale des Sciences
95. Fr. René Just Haüy (1743–1822) – priest known as the Father of Crystallography
96. Fr. Maximilian Hell (1720–1792) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Vienna Observatory; the lunar crater Hell is named after him
97. Fr. Michał Heller (1936– ) – Polish priest, Templeton Prize winner and prolific writer on numerous scientific topics
98. Fr. Lorenz Hengler (1806–1858) – priest often credited as the inventor of the horizontal pendulum
99. Fr. Hermann of Reichenau (1013–1054) – Benedictine historian, music theorist, astronomer and mathematician
100. Fr. Pierre Marie Heude (1836–1902) – Jesuit missionary and zoologist who studied the natural history of Eastern Asia
101. Fr. Franz von Paula Hladnik (1773–1844) – priest and botanist who discovered several new kinds of plants and certain genera have been named after him
102. Fr. Giovanni Battista Hodierna (1597–1660) – priest and astronomer who catalogued nebulous objects and developed an early microscope
103. Fr. Victor-Alphonse Huard (1853–1929) – priest, naturalist, educator, writer and promoter of the natural sciences
104. Fr. Maximus von Imhof (1758–1817) – German Augustinian physicist and director of the Munich Academy of Sciences
105. Fr. Giovanni Inghirami (1779–1851) – Italian Piarist astronomer who has a lunar valley named after him as well as a crater
106. Fr. François Jacquier (1711–1788) – Franciscan mathematician and physicist; at his death he was connected with nearly all the great scientific and literary societies of Europe
107. Fr. Stanley Jaki (1924–2009) – Benedictine priest and prolific writer who wrote on the relationship between science and theology
108. Fr. Ányos Jedlik (1800–1895) – Benedictine engineer, physicist and inventor; considered by Hungarians and Slovaks to be the unsung Father of the dynamo and electric motor
109. Fr. Georg Joseph Kamel (1661–1706) – Jesuit missionary and botanist who established the first pharmacy in the Philippines
110. Fr. Karl Kehrle (1898–1996) – Benedictine Monk of Buckfast Abbey, England; beekeeper; world authority on bee breeding, developer of the Buckfast bee which is the hybrid commonly used currently
111. Fr. Eusebio Kino (1645–1711) – Jesuit missionary, mathematician, astronomer and cartographer; drew maps based on his explorations first showing that California was not an island, as then believed; published an astronomical treatise in Mexico City of his observations of the Kirsch comet
112. Fr. Otto Kippes (1905–1994) – priest acknowledged for his work in asteroid orbit calculations; the main belt asteroid 1780 Kippes was named in his honor
113. Fr. Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) – Jesuit who has been called the Father of Egyptology and "Master of a hundred arts"; wrote an encyclopedia of China; one of the first people to observe microbes through a microscope
114. Fr. Wenceslas Pantaleon Kirwitzer (1588–1626) – Jesuit astronomer and missionary who published observations of comets
115. Fr. Jan Krzysztof Kluk (1739–1796) – priest, naturalist agronomist and entomologist who wrote a multi-volume work on Polish animal life
116. Fr. Marian Wolfgang Koller (1792–1866) – Benedictine professor who wrote on astronomy, physics and meteorology
117. Fr. Franz Xaver Kugler (1862–1929) – Jesuit chemist, mathematician and Assyriologist who is most noted for his studies of cuneiform tablets and Babylonian astronomy
118. Bl. Ramon Llull (ca. 1232 – ca. 1315) Majorcan writer and philosopher, logician and a Franciscan tertiary considered a pioneer of computation theory. Created the world's first analog computer
119. Fr. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713–1762) – French deacon and astronomer noted for cataloguing stars, nebulous objects and constellations
120. Fr. Eugene Lafont (1837–1908) – Jesuit physicist, astronomer and founder of the first Scientific Society in India
121. Fr. Antoine de Laloubère (1600–1664) – Jesuit and first mathematician to study the properties of the helix
122. Fr. Bernard Lamy (1640–1715) – Oratorian philosopher and mathematician who wrote on the parallelogram of forces
123. Fr. Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833) – priest and entomologist whose works describing insects assigned many of the insect taxa still in use today
124. Abbot Georges Lemaître (1894–1966) – Belgian priest and Father of the Big Bang Theory
125. Fr. Thomas Linacre (c. 1460–1524) – English priest, humanist, translator and physician
126. Fr. Francis Line (1595–1675) – Jesuit magnetic clock and sundial maker who disagreed with some of the findings of Newton and Boyle
127. Fr. Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (1606–1682) – Cistercian who wrote on a variety of scientific subjects, including probability theory
128. Fr. Jean Mabillon (1632–1707) – Benedictine monk and scholar, considered the founder of paleography and diplomatics
129. Fr. James B. Macelwane (1883–1956) – "the best-known Jesuit seismologist" and "one of the most honored practitioners of the science of all time"; wrote the first textbook on seismology in America
130. Fr. John MacEnery (1797–1841) – archaeologist who investigated the Palaeolithic remains at Kents Cavern
131. Fr. Paul McNally (1890–1955) – Jesuit astronomer and director of Georgetown Observatory; the lunar crater McNally is named after him
132. Fr. Manuel Magri (1851–1907) – Jesuit ethnographer, archaeologist and writer; one of Malta's pioneers in archaeology
133. Fr. Emmanuel Maignan (1601–1676) – Minim physicist and professor of medicine who published works on gnomonics and perspective
134. Fr. Charles Malapert (1581–1630) – Jesuit writer, astronomer and proponent of Aristotelian cosmology; also known for observations of sunpots and of the lunar surface and the lunar crater Malapert is named after him
135. Fr. Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715) – Oratorian philosopher who studied physics, optics and the laws of motion and disseminated the ideas of Descartes and Leibniz
136. Fr. Marcin of Urzędów (c. 1500–1573) – priest, physician, pharmacist and botanist
137. Fr. Joseph Maréchal (1878–1944) – Jesuit philosopher and psychologist
138. Fr. Marie-Victorin (1885–1944) – Christian Brother and botanist best known as the Father of the Jardin Botanique de Montréal
139. Fr. Edme Mariotte (c. 1620–1684) – priest and physicist who recognized Boyle's Law and wrote about the nature of color
140. Fr. Francesco Maurolico (1494–1575) – Benedictine who made contributions to the fields of geometry, optics, conics, mechanics, music and astronomy and gave the first known proof by mathematical induction
141. Fr. Christian Mayer (astronomer) (1719–1783) – Jesuit astronomer most noted for pioneering the study of binary stars
142. Fr. James Robert McConnell (1915–1999) – Irish theoretical physicist, pontifical academician, Monsignor
143. Fr. Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) – Augustinian monk and Father of genetics
144. Fr. Pietro Mengoli (1626–1686) – priest and mathematician who first posed the famous Basel Problem
145. Fr. Giuseppe Mercalli (1850–1914) – priest, volcanologist and director of the Vesuvius Observatory who is best remembered today for his Mercalli scale for measuring earthquakes which is still in use
146. Fr. Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) – Minim philosopher, mathematician and music theorist who is often referred to as the "Father of acoustics"
147. Fr. Paul of Middelburg (1446–1534) – Bishop of Fossombrone who wrote important works on the reform of the calendar
148. Fr. Maciej Miechowita (1457–1523) – priest who wrote the first accurate geographical and ethnographical description of Eastern Europe, as well as two medical treatises
149. Fr. François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno (1804–1884) – Jesuit physicist and mathematician; was an expositor of science and translator rather than an original investigator
150. Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (1740–1829) – Jesuit naturalist, historian, botanist, ornithologist and geographer
151. Fr. Louis Moréri (1643–1680) – 17th-century priest and encyclopedist
152. Fr. Théodore Moret (1602–1667) – Jesuit mathematician and author of the first mathematical dissertations ever defended in Prague; the lunar crater Moretus is named after him
153. Fr. Landell de Moura (1861–1928) – priest and inventor who was the first to accomplish the transmission of the human voice by a wireless machine
154. Abbot Gabriel Mouton (1618–1694) – abbot, mathematician, astronomer and early proponent of the metric system
155. Fr. Jozef Murgaš (1864–1929) – priest who contributed to wireless telegraphy and help develop mobile communications and wireless transmission of information and human voice
156. Fr. José Celestino Mutis (1732–1808) – Priest, botanist and mathematician who led the Royal Botanical Expedition of the New World
157. Fr. Jean François Niceron (1613–1646) – Minim mathematician who studied geometrical optics
158. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) – Cardinal, philosopher, jurist, mathematician, astronomer and one of the great geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century
159. Fr. Julius Nieuwland (1878–1936) – Holy Cross priest, known for his contributions to acetylene research and its use as the basis for one type of synthetic rubber, which eventually led to the invention of neoprene by DuPont
160. Abbot Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700–1770) – abbot and physicist who discovered the phenomenon of osmosis in natural membranes
161. Fr. Hugo Obermaier (1877–1946) – priest, prehistorian and anthropologist who is known for his work on the diffusion of mankind in Europe during the Ice Age, as well as his work with north Spanish cave art
162. Fr. William of Ockham (c. 1288 – c. 1348) – Franciscan Scholastic who wrote significant works on logic, physics and theology; known for Occam's razor-principle
163. Bishop Nicole Oresme (c. 1323–1382) – one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the later Middle Ages; economist, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lisieux and competent translator; one of the most original thinkers of the 14th century
164. Fr. Barnaba Oriani (1752–1832) – Barnabite geodesist, astronomer and scientist whose greatest achievement was his detailed research of the planet Uranus; also known for Oriani's Theorem
165. Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk (1965–) – priest, neuroscientist and writer
166. Fr. Luca Pacioli (c. 1446–1517) – Franciscan friar who published several works on mathematics; often regarded as the "Father of accounting"
167. Fr. Ignace-Gaston Pardies (1636–1673) – Jesuit physicist known for his correspondence with Newton and Descartes
168. Fr. Franciscus Patricius (1529–1597) – priest, cosmic theorist, philosopher and Renaissance scholar
169. Fr. John Peckham (1230–1292) – Archbishop of Canterbury and early practitioner of experimental science
170. Abbot Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580–1637) – abbot and astronomer who discovered the Orion Nebula; lunar crater Peirescius named in his honor
171. Fr. Stephen Joseph Perry (1833–1889) – Jesuit astronomer and Fellow of the Royal Society; made frequent observations of Jupiter's satellites, of stellar occultations, of comets, of meteorites, of sun spots and faculae
172. Fr. Giambattista Pianciani (1784–1862) – Jesuit mathematician and physicist
173. Fr. Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826) – Theatine mathematician and astronomer who discovered Ceres, today known as the largest member of the asteroid belt; also did important work cataloguing stars
174. Fr. Jean Picard (1620–1682) – priest and first person to measure the size of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy; also developed what became the standard method for measuring the right ascension of a celestial object; the PICARD mission, an orbiting solar observatory, is named in his honor
175. Fr. Edward Pigot (1858–1929) – Jesuit seismologist and astronomer
176. Fr. Alexandre Guy Pingré (1711–1796) – French priest astronomer and naval geographer; the lunar crater Pingré is named after him, as is the asteroid 12719 Pingré
177. Fr. Andrew Pinsent (1966–) – priest whose current research includes the application of insights from autism and social cognition to 'second-person' accounts of moral perception and character formation; his previous scientific research contributed to the DELPHI experiment at CERN
178. Cardinal Jean Baptiste François Pitra (1812–1889) – Benedictine cardinal, archaeologist and theologian who noteworthy for his great archaeological discoveries
179. Fr. Charles Plumier (1646–1704) – Minim friar who is considered one of the most important botanical explorers of his time
180. Fr. Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt (1728–1810) – Jesuit astronomer and mathematician; granted the title of the King's Astronomer; the lunar crater Poczobutt is named after him
181. Fr. Léon Abel Provancher (1820–1892) – priest and naturalist devoted to the study and description of the fauna and flora of Canada; his pioneer work won for him the appellation of the "Father of Canadian Natural History"
182. Fr. Louis Receveur (1757–1788) – Franciscan naturalist and astronomer; described as being as close as one could get to being an ecologist in the 18th century
183. Fr. Franz Reinzer (1661–1708) – Jesuit who wrote an in-depth meteorological, astrological and political compendium covering topics such as comets, meteors, lightning, winds, fossils, metals, bodies of water and subterranean treasures and secrets of the earth
184. Bishop Louis Rendu (1789–1859) – bishop who wrote an important book on the mechanisms of glacial motion; the Rendu Glacier, Alaska, US and Mount Rendu, Antarctica are named for him
185. Fr. Vincenzo Riccati (1707–1775) – Italian Jesuit mathematician and physicist
186. Fr. Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) – one of the founding fathers of the Jesuit China Mission and co-author of the first European-Chinese dictionary. (On route to being a saint)
187. Fr. Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598–1671) – Jesuit astronomer who authored Almagestum novum, an influential encyclopedia of astronomy; the first person to measure the rate of acceleration of a freely falling body; created a selenograph with Father Grimaldi that now adorns the entrance at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
188. Abbot Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336) – abbot, renowned clockmaker and one of the initiators of western trigonometry
189. Fr. Johannes Ruysch (c. 1460–1533) – priest, explorer, cartographer and astronomer who created the second oldest known printed representation of the New World
190. Fr. Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri (1667–1733) – Jesuit mathematician and geometer
191. Fr. Johannes de Sacrobosco (c. 1195 – c. 1256) – Irish monk and astronomer who wrote the authoritative medieval astronomy text Tractatus de Sphaera; his Algorismus was the first text to introduce Hindu-Arabic numerals and procedures into the European university curriculum; the lunar crater Sacrobosco is named after him
192. Fr. Gregoire de Saint-Vincent (1584–1667) – Jesuit mathematician who made important contributions to the study of the hyperbola
193. Fr. Alphonse Antonio de Sarasa (1618–1667) – Jesuit mathematician who contributed to the understanding of logarithms
194. Fr. Christoph Scheiner (c. 1573–1650) – Jesuit physicist, astronomer and inventor of the pantograph; wrote on a wide range of scientific subjects
195. Fr. Wilhelm Schmidt (linguist) (1868–1954) – Austrian priest, linguist, anthropologist and ethnologist
196. Fr. George Schoener (1864–1941) – priest who became known in the United States as the "Padre of the Roses" for his experiments in rose breeding
197. Fr. Gaspar Schott (1608–1666) – Jesuit physicist, astronomer and natural philosopher who is most widely known for his works on hydraulic and mechanical instruments
198. Fr. Franz Paula von Schrank (1747–1835) – priest, botanist, entomologist and prolific writer
199. Fr. Berthold Schwarz (c. 14th century) – Franciscan friar and reputed inventor of gunpowder and firearms
200. Fr. Anton Maria Schyrleus of Rheita (1604–1660) – Capuchin astronomer and optrician who built Kepler's telescope
201. Fr. George Mary Searle (1839–1918) – Paulist astronomer and professor who discovered six galaxies
202. Fr. Angelo Secchi (1818–1878) – Jesuit pioneer in astronomical spectroscopy and one of the first scientists to state authoritatively that the sun is a star
203. Fr. Alessandro Serpieri (1823–1885) – priest, astronomer and seismologist who studied shooting stars and was the first to introduce the concept of the seismic radiant
204. Fr. Gerolamo Sersale (1584–1654) – Jesuit astronomer and selenographer; his map of the moon can be seen in the Naval Observatory of San Fernando; the lunar crater Sirsalis is named after him
205. Fr. Benedict Sestini (1816–1890) – Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and architect; studied sunspots and eclipses; wrote textbooks on a variety of mathematical subjects
206. Fr. René François Walter de Sluse (1622–1685) – Priest and mathematician with a family of curves named after him
207. Fr. Domingo de Soto (1494–1560) – Spanish Dominican priest and professor at the University of Salamanca; in his commentaries to Aristotle he proposed that free falling bodies undergo constant acceleration
208. Fr. Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799) – priest, biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction and essentially discovered echolocation; his research of biogenesis paved the way for the investigations of Louis Pasteur
209. Fr. Valentin Stansel (1621–1705) – Jesuit astronomer who made important observations of comets
210. Fr. Johan Stein (1871–1951) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory, which he modernized and relocated to Castel Gandolfo; the crater Stein on the far side of the Moon is named after him
211. Bl. Nicolas Steno (1638–1686) – Bishop beatified by Pope John Paul II who is often called the Father of geology and stratigraphy, and is known for Steno's principles
212. Pope Sylvester II (c. 946–1003) – Prolific scholar who endorsed and promoted Arabic knowledge of arithmetic, mathematics and astronomy in Europe, reintroducing the abacus and armillary sphere which had been lost to Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era
213. Fr. Alexius Sylvius Polonus (1593 – c. 1653) – Jesuit astronomer who studied sunspots and published a work on calendariography
214. Fr. Ignacije Szentmartony (1718–1793) – Jesuit cartographer, mathematician and astronomer who became a member of the expedition that worked on the rearrangement of the frontiers among colonies in South America
215. Fr. André Tacquet (1612–1660) – Jesuit mathematician whose work laid the groundwork for the eventual discovery of calculus
216. Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) – Jesuit paleontologist and geologist who took part in the discovery of Peking Man
217. Fr. Francesco Lana de Terzi (c. 1631–1687) – Jesuit referred to as the Father of Aviation for his pioneering efforts; he also developed a blind writing alphabet prior to Braille.
218. Fr. Theodoric of Freiberg (c. 1250 – c. 1310) – Dominican theologian and physicist who gave the first correct geometrical analysis of the rainbow
219. Fr. Joseph Tiefenthaler (1710–1785) – Jesuit who was one of the earliest European geographers to write about India
220. Fr. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719–1797) – priest and physicist who studied atmospheric electricity and did important work with lightning rods; the asteroid 23685 Toaldo is named for him
221. Fr. José Torrubia (c. 1700–1768) – Franciscan linguist, scientist, collector of fossils and books and writer on historical, political and religious subjects
222. Fr. Franz de Paula Triesnecker (1745–1817) – Jesuit astronomer and director of the Vienna Observatory; published a number of treatises on astronomy and geography; the lunar crater Triesnecker is named after him
223. Fr. Luca Valerio (1552–1618) – Jesuit mathematician who developed ways to find volumes and centers of gravity of solid bodies
224. Fr. Pierre Varignon (1654–1722) – priest and mathematician whose principle contributions were to statics and mechanics; created a mechanical explanation of gravitation
225. Fr. Jacques de Vaucanson (1709–1782) – French Minim friar inventor and artist who was responsible for the creation of impressive and innovative automata and machines such as the first completely automated loom
226. Fr. Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746–1822) – priest who discovered the Venturi effect
227. Bishop Fausto Veranzio (c. 1551–1617) – Bishop, polymath, inventor and lexicographer
228. Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688) – Jesuit astronomer and mathematician; designed what some claim to be the first ever self-propelled vehicle, which many claim this as the world's first automobile
229. Fr. Francesco de Vico (1805–1848) – Jesuit astronomer who discovered or co-discovered a number of comets; also made observations of Saturn and the gaps in its rings; the lunar crater De Vico and the asteroid 20103 de Vico are named after him
230. Fr. Vincent of Beauvais (c.1190–c.1264) – Dominican who wrote the most influential encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
231. Fr. Benito Viñes (1837–1893) – Jesuit meteorologist who made the first weather model to predict the trajectory of a hurricane
232. Archbishop János Vitéz (archbishop) (c.1405–1472) – Archbishop, astronomer and mathematician
233. Fr. Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470–1520) – German priest and cartographer who, along with Matthias Ringmann, is credited with the first recorded usage of the word America
234. Fr. Godefroy Wendelin (1580–1667) – priest and astronomer who recognized that Kepler's third law applied to the satellites of Jupiter; the lunar crate Vendelinus is named in his honor
235. Fr. Johannes Werner (1468–1522) – priest, mathematician, astronomer and geographer
236. Fr. Witelo (c. 1230 – after 1280, before 1314) – Friar, physicist, natural philosopher and mathematician; lunar crater Vitello named in his honor; his Perspectiva powerfully influenced later scientists, in particular Johannes Kepler
237. Fr. Julian Tenison Woods (1832–1889) – Passionist geologist and mineralogist
238. Fr. Theodor Wulf (1868–1946) – Jesuit physicist who was one of the first experimenters to detect excess atmospheric radiation
239. Fr. Franz Xaver von Wulfen (1728–1805) – Jesuit botanist, mineralogist and alpinist
240. Fr. John Zahm (1851–1921) – Holy Cross priest and South American explorer
241. Fr. Giuseppe Zamboni (1776–1846) – priest and physicist who invented the Zamboni pile, an early electric battery similar to the Voltaic pile
242. Fr. Francesco Zantedeschi (1797–1873) – priest who was among the first to recognize the marked absorption by the atmosphere of red, yellow and green light; published papers on the production of electric currents in closed circuits by the approach and withdrawal of a magnet, thereby anticipating Michael Faraday's classical experiments of 1831
243. Fr. Niccolò Zucchi (1586–1670) – claimed to have tried to build a reflecting telescope in 1616 but abandoned the idea (maybe due to the poor quality of the mirror); may have been the first to see the belts on the planet Jupiter (1630)
244. Fr. Giovanni Battista Zupi (c. 1590–1650) – Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and first person to discover that the planet Mercury had orbital phases; the lunar crater Zupus is named after him
