Physics and Religion do not Contradict Each Other At All

  1. Lemma
  2. Физика и религия совершенно не противоречат друг другу
  3. Russian
  4. Asliturk, Miriam
  5. Complementarity - Scientific theories and disciplines > Classical physics
  6. 19-07-2018
  7. Фишман, Роман [Author]. Физика и религия совершенно не противоречат друг другу
  8. Эхо Москвы
  9. faith and knowledge - Christian faith - Russian Orthodoxy - Orthodox scientist - applied physics
  10. Click Here
    1. <p>Фишман, Роман (2013). Физика и религия совершенно не противоречат друг другу. <em>Эхо Москвы</em>. Retrieved from: <a href="https://echo.msk.ru/blog/publicpost/1099042-echo/">https://echo.msk.ru/blog/publicpost/1099042-echo/</a> </p>
    1. The article summarizes an interview with Mikhail Katsnelson, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, a graduate of the Ural State University, and currently a professor at the University of Radbaud (the Netherlands). Katsnelson has made an important contribution in the Nobel prize-winning work on graphene (the prize was attributed to Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov). Katsnelson is also an Orthodox Christian who believes that science and religion do not contradict each other. For him faith is a deeply intimate thing and infinitely more profound than professional life. At the same time, he points out that “the most rare and valuable moments in professional life, the moments when new ideas come” probably also represent “a kind of mystical insight, in some ways related to a religious experience.

      Katsnelson became Orthodox via a conscious choice as an adult. He was brought up in an “absolutely irreligious, and perhaps even antireligious, environment,” but due to a very strong spiritual and mystical experience he became Orthodox. Katsnelson argues that a person who has had a deep spiritual experience needs a religious tradition to curb the extreme emotions; introduce them into a framework and work fruitfully with them. He says that he goes to church to confess, take communion and for other rituals, which encourages him to do inner spiritual work, while the social activities of the Church interest him much less. He points out that most of his colleagues treat his religiosity with understanding, while others manifest a neutral attitude. “Serious specialists”, he posits, “understand that a scientist should be judged by his scientific works,” not by his faith.