Catholic Scientists from Around the World Meet in Chicago To Discuss Origins of the Universe, Habitable Planets, and Human Language

VIDEOS OF THE CONFERENCE LECTURES ARE NOW AVAILABLE HERE

Chicago, IL (April 18, 2017) – Might there be other planets that harbor life --- perhaps one of the recently discovered earth-like “exoplanets”?  Might there even be other universes?  These and other questions will be pondered at the inaugural conference of The Society of Catholic Scientists (or SCS), which will be held in Chicago’s Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel from April 21-23. The Lumen Christi Institute is proud be providing financial and organizational support for the conference.
 

The SCS was formed last summer and already has several hundred members, including top researchers in such fields as superstring theory, astrobiology, and evolutionary theory. 


Almost a hundred members of SCS, along with some philosophers and theologians, will come to the April conference, which is called “Origins”, to explore how things might have begun, from cosmos to consciousness, from living things to human language. 


The conference has a stellar cast of speakers, including non-Catholic scientists such as Robert C. Berwick of MIT and John D. Barrow of Cambridge, and Catholics such as Karin Öberg a rising star at Harvard, Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, and Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University.


Conversation will be lively as Prof. Barrow discusses “the origin and evolution of universes,” and Prof. Berwick explains the ideas he and Noam Chomsky have recently developed on how human language began and why no other animals have anything like it.


The Society of Catholic Scientists was founded “to witness to the harmony between the vocation of the scientist and the life of faith.” It will also be a place where Catholic scientists, whether famous or just starting out, can meet and share their ideas and their faith.


Registration for the conference is now closed, as it has reached capacity. However, members of the press can inquire with Stephen M. Barr, (President of the SCS and professor of theoretical particle physics at the University of Delaware) for admission to the event and to schedule an interview.


Additional information about the conference and the Society of Catholic Scientists is available HERE.

You can read coverage of the conference HERE and HERE.