[Dialogue] religion/science converging

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GREAT STORY


Thu Mar 10, 7:55 AM ET


By Larry B. Stammer Times Staff Writer


 Charles Townes, the UC Berkeley professor who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize

in physics for his work in quantum electronics and then startled the

scientific world by suggesting that religion and science were converging,

was awarded the $1.5-million Templeton Prize on Wednesday for progress in

spiritual knowledge.


 The prize, the proceeds of which Townes said he planned to largely donate

to academic and religious institutions, recognized his groundbreaking and

controversial leadership in the mid-1960s in bridging science and religion.


 The co-inventor of the laser, Townes, 89, said no greater question faced

humankind than discovering the purpose and meaning of life ‹ and why there

was something rather than nothing in the cosmos.


 "If you look at what religion is all about, it's trying to understand the

purpose and meaning of our universe," he said in a telephone interview from

New York this week. "Science tries to understand function and structures. If

there is any meaning, structure will have a lot to do with any meaning. In

the long run they must come together."


 Townes said that it was "extremely unlikely" that the laws of physics that

led to life on Earth were accidental.


 Some scientists, he conceded, had suggested that if there were an almost

infinite number of universes, each with different laws, one of them was

bound by chance to hit upon the right combination to support life.


 "I think one has to consider that seriously," Townes told The Times. But he

said such an assumption could not currently be tested. Even if there were a

multitude of universes, he said, we do not know why the laws of physics

would vary from one universe to another.


 Townes said science was increasingly discovering how special our universe

was, raising questions as to whether it was planned. To raise such a

question is the work of scientists and theologians alike, said Townes, who

grew up in a Baptist household that embraced "an open-minded approach" to

biblical interpretation. He is a member of the First Congregational Church

in Berkeley and prays twice daily.


 In 1964, while a professor at Columbia University, Townes delivered a talk

at Riverside Church in New York that became the basis for an article, "The

Convergence of Science and Religion," which put him at odds with some

scientists.


 In the article, Townes said science and religion should find common ground,

noting "their differences are largely superficial, and   the two become

almost indistinguishable if we look at the real nature of each." When MIT

published the article, a prominent alumnus threatened to break ties with the

institution.


 In a 1996 interview with The Times, Townes said that new findings in

astronomy had opened people's minds to religion. Before the 1960s, the Big

Bang was just an idea that was hotly debated. Today, there is so much

evidence supporting the theory that most cosmologists take it for granted.


 "The fact that the universe had a beginning is a very striking thing,"

Townes said. "How do you explain that unique event" without God?


 Townes this week spoke of his interest in the search for extraterrestrial

intelligence. The sheer number of stars and planets, he said, would likely

increase the probability of intelligent life elsewhere. But for life to get

started on even one planet is "highly improbable. It might not have started

more than two or three times," he said. "It would be fascinating to find

somebody out there."


 Born in Greenville, S.C., in 1915, Townes received a bachelor's degree in

physics, summa cum laude, from Furman University in Greenville when he was

19. Two years later he received a master's in physics from Duke University,

and in 1939 a doctorate in physics from Caltech with a thesis on isotope

separation and nuclear spins.


 During World War II he helped develop radar systems that functioned in the

humid conditions of the South Pacific.


 His research led to the development of the maser in 1954, which amplifies

electromagnetic waves, and later co-invented the laser. His work, for which

he shared the 1964 Nobel in physics, led to a wide variety of inventions and

discoveries in medicine, telecommunications, electronics, computers and

other areas.


 He was named provost and professor of physics at MIT in 1961, director of

the Enrico Fermi International School of Physics in 1963, and, in 1967,

professor of physics at UC Berkeley, a post he held until 1986.


 The Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about

Spiritual Realities was established in 1972 by Sir John Templeton, a global

investor and philanthropist. Past winners include Mother Teresa; evangelist

Billy Graham; Holmes Rolston III, a philosopher, clergyman and scientist

whose explorations of biology and faith have helped foster religious

interest in the environment; and John C. Polkinghorne, a British

mathematical physicist and Anglican priest.


 The Duke of Edinburgh is to present the prize to Townes in a private

ceremony at Buckingham Palace in April.