Stanley L. Jaki (Jáki Szaniszló László) (17 August 1924 – 7 April 2009) was a Hungarian-born priest of the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

order. From 1975 to his death, he was Distinguished University Professor at

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, in South Orange,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. He held doctorates in theology and in physics and was a leading contributor to the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

and the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

, particularly to their relationship to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. In 2018, Jaki was named one of five Catholic scientists "that shaped our understanding of the world" by

Aleteia ''Aleteia'' is an online Catholic Church, Catholic news and information website founded in 2011/2012 by Jesús Colina via the Foundation for Evangelization through the Media. It has the approval of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications a ...

; the other four are:

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

Gregor Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel Order of Saint Augustine, OSA (; ; ; 20 July 1822 – 6 January 1884) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinians, Augustinian friar and abbot of St Thomas's Abbey, Brno, St. Thom ...

, Giuseppe Mercalli and Georges Lemaître.

Studies

After completing undergraduate training in philosophy, theology and mathematics, Jaki did graduate work in theology and physics and gained doctorates in theology from the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(1950) and in physics from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

(1958), where he studied under the Nobel laureate Victor Hess, the co-discoverer of cosmic rays. He also did post-doctoral research in

Philosophy of Science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Research

Jaki authored more than two dozen books on the relation between modern science and

. He was Fremantle Lecturer at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

(1977), Hoyt Fellow at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

(1980) and Farmington Institute Lecturer at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

(1988–1989). He was the Gifford Lecturer at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

in 1974–1975 and 1975–1976. In 1987, he was awarded the

Templeton Prize The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person, in the estimation of the judges, "whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton's philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest ques ...

for furthering understanding of science and religion. He was among the first to claim that Gödel's incompleteness theorem is relevant for theories of everything (TOE) in theoretical physics. Gödel's theorem states that any

theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

that includes certain basic facts of number theory and is

computably enumerable In computability theory, a set ''S'' of natural numbers is called computably enumerable (c.e.), recursively enumerable (r.e.), semidecidable, partially decidable, listable, provable or Turing-recognizable if: *There is an algorithm such that the ...

will be either incomplete or

inconsistent In deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. A theory T is consistent if there is no formula \varphi such that both \varphi and its negation \lnot\varphi are elements of the set of consequences o ...

. Since any 'theory of everything' must be consistent, it also must be incomplete.

Death

Jaki died in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

following a heart attack. He was in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

visiting friends, on his way back to the United States after delivering lectures in

, for the Master in Faith and Science of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum.

Bibliography

*1966. ''The Relevance of Physics''.

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

. *1969. ''Brain, Mind and Computers''. Herder & Herder. *1969. ''The Paradox of Olbers' Paradox''. Herder & Herder. *1973. ''The Milky Way: an Elusive Road for Science''. New York: Science History Publications. *1974. ''Science and Creation: From Eternal Cycles to an Oscillating Universe''. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. *1978. ''Planets and Planetarians. A History of Theories of the Origin of Planetary Systems''. John Wiley & Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. *1978. ''The Road of Science and the Ways to God''. Univ. of Chicago Press, and Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. *1978. ''The Origin of Science and the Science of its Origins''. Scottish Academic Press. *1980. ''Cosmos and Creator''. Scottish Academic Press. *1983. ''Angels, Apes and Men''. La Salle IL: Sherwood, Sugden & Co. *1984. ''Uneasy Genius. The Life and Work of

Pierre Duhem Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (; 9 June 1861 – 14 September 1916) was a French theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and the theory of Elasticity (physics), elasticity. Duhem was also a prolif ...

''. The Hague/Boston:

Martinus Nijhoff Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South Holland city of Leiden, ...

. *1986. ''Chesterton, a Seer of Science''.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...

. *1986. ''Lord Gifford and His Lectures. A Centenary Retrospective''. Edinburgh: Scottish Academis Press, and Macon, GA.: Mercer University Press. *1986. ''Chance or Reality and Other Essays''. Lanham, MD: University Press of America & Intercollegiate Studies Institute. *1987. ''The Keys of the Kingdom: A Tool's Witness to Truth''. Chicago, IL: Franciscan Herald Press. *1988. ''The Absolute Beneath the Relative and Other Essays''. Lanham, MD: University Press of America & Intercollegiate Studies Institute. *2000 (1988). ''The Savior of Science''. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids. *1989. ''Miracles and Physics''. Front Royal. VA.: Christendom Press. *1989. ''God and the Cosmologists''. Regnery Gateway Inc.; Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. **''The Purpose of it All'' *1990. ''The Only Chaos and Other Essays''. Lanham MD: University Press of America & Intercollegiate Studies Institute. *1991. ''Scientist and Catholic, An Essay on Pierre Duhem''. Front Royal VA: Christendom Press. *1994. ''Patterns or Principals and Other Essays''. ISBN 978-1882926091. *1998 (1992) '' Genesis 1 Through the Ages''. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. *1996. ''Bible And Science''. Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press. *1999. ''God and the Sun at Fatima''. Royal Oak, MI: Real View Books. *2000. ''The Limits of a Limitless Science and Other Essays''. Intercollegiate Studies Institute. *2000. ''Christ and science''. Real View Books. *2001. ''Praying the Psalms, A Commentary'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, *2002. ''A Mind's Matter: An Intellectual Autobiography.'' Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids. *2004. ''And On This Rock: Witness Of One Land & Two Covenants.'' Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press. *2008. ''Hail Mary, full of grace: A Commentary''. New Hope, KY: Real View Books.

References

External links