No Contradiction Between Physics And Religion: Max Planck

Max Planck was a German theoretical physicist who is regarded as the father of quantum mechanics. Planck won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1918, for the discovery of energy quanta.

While solving for energy quantum, Max Planck stumbled upon a very small number which is the foundation of modern physics. Planck is well known for this constant which has been named in his honor, h = 6.62607015 × 10-34 m2 kg / s.

Planck came from a traditional family, a generation of theology professors in Gottingen. Plank's father broke that tradition by teaching law. Later on Planck too, as he became a professor of physics. However, while Planck was driven mainly by science, he was also religious by heart.

According to Planck, there was no contradiction between science and religion. Religion and natural science (read: physics) do not exclude each other, as many contemporaries of ours would believe or fear, Planck said. They mutually supplement and condition each other.

The following quotes are by Planck on science and religion:

1. Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.

2. Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.

3. My research on the atom has shown me that there is no such thing as matter in itself. What we perceive as matter is merely the manifestation of a force that causes the subatomic particles to oscillate and holds them together in the tiniest solar system of the universe

4. Natural science wants man to learn, religion wants him to act.

5. Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.