STONY BROOK, N.Y., October 23, 2006—Exploring the intersections of science and religion is a challenge Guy J. Consolmagno, S.J. has often faced. As a Vatican astronomer and a theorist, Fr. Consolmagno, researches the evolution of small solar system objects and is an author of four books on astronomy—not the usual resume for a Jesuit scholar.
A veteran of the Peace Corps, a graduate from MIT, and a physics professor before taking his vows in 1991, Consolmagno’s extraordinary journey has been one of discovery, and his travelogue takes him to Stony Brook University on Thursday, October 26 to lecture on “Astronomy, God, and the Search for Elegance.” The lecture, part of Stony Brook’s Templeton Research Lecture Series on “Trust in Science and Religion,” takes place at 4:00 PM in Room 137 of the Harriman Building.
The lecture series is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, which pursues new insights at the boundary between theology and science. The Foundation typically seeks to focus the methods and resources of scientific inquiry on topical areas that have spiritual and theological significance ranging across the disciplines from cosmology to healthcare.
Consolmagno serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection, one of the largest in the world. His research explores the connections between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. For his contributions to the study of meteorites and asteroids, Consolmagno has been honored by the naming of an asteroid after him.
He has coauthored four astronomy books: a popular telescope guide, Turn Left at Orion (with Dan M. Davis, 1995); a planetary sciences textbook, Worlds Apart (with Martha W. Schaefer, 1993); a book describing modern physics for a church-going layperson, The Way to the Dwelling of Light (1998); and Brother Astronomer, Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (2000).
Today, Consolmagno divides his time between Tucson, Arizona, where he observes asteroids and Kuiper Belt comets with the Vatican's 1.8 meter telescope on Mt. Graham, and Castel Gandolfo, Italy, home of the Vatican meteorites. He has also traveled extensively around the world doing research and giving talks; recent stops have included New Zealand, Japan, and Eastern Europe, as well as Western Europe and the U.S. In 1996, he spent six weeks collecting meteorites with an NSF-sponsored team on the blue ice of Antarctica.
For more on Stony Brook University’s Trust Institute, please visit http://ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/trust/.
