Videnskabshistorisk Selskab


Professor Ronald L. Numbers,
Department of the History of Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison:

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion
 

The greatest myth in the history of science and religion holds that they have been in a state of constant conflict. No one bears more responsibility for promoting this notion than two nineteenth-century American polemicists: Andrew Dickson White and John William Draper, both of whom wrote best-selling books on the subject. Historians of science have known for years that White's and Draper's accounts are more propaganda than history (as is an opposing myth, that Christianity alone gave birth to modern science). Yet the message has rarely escaped the ivory tower. The secular public, if it thinks about such issues at all, knows that organized religion has always opposed scientific progress (witness the attacks on Galileo, Darwin, and Scopes). The religious public knows that science has taken the leading role in corroding faith (through naturalism and antibiblicism). In this talk I will use a recent book of the same title to try to dispel some of the hoary myths that continue to pass as historical truths.

This talk was unfortunately cancelled because the cloud of volcanic ash hindered Prof. Numbers' flight to Europe.

tirsdag den 20. april, 2010, kl. 17.00


Startside
Info om selskabet
Vedtægter
Medlemskab
Bestyrelsen
Arrangementsliste
Historie
In English