Historical Overview
Roger Bacon (1220-1292) (Catholic) established observation & experimenting (scientific method) as the true basis of science
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) (Catholic) cause & effect relationships
Johann Gutenberg (c.1397-c.1468) (Catholic) invented typography & printing press to distribute knowledge
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) (Catholic) believed knowledge about the world must be based on scientific evidence from experiments, Hydraulics, Anatomy
Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) (Protestant) was a Swiss naturalist, doctor of medicine, professor for physics, natural philsophy, and ethics, and bibliographer (considered the father of bibliography). His five-volume Historiae animalium (1551-1558) is considered the beginning of modern zoology.
John Napier (1550-1617) (Protestant) inventor of logarithms, decimal notation for fractions and the concept of negative numbers
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) (Lutheran) discovered the laws of planetary motion (Celestial Mechanics), Astronomy
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) (Catholic) Hydrostatics, Fluid Pressure, probability and number theory, geometry, religious philosopher and field of Christian apologetics.
Robert Boyle (1627-1691) (Protestant) Chemistry, Elements, Gas Volume & Pressure, sound, Scientific Method
John Ray (1627-1691) (Protestant) Naturalist
John Ray (1627-1705) (Calvinist) Botany, Zoology, Entomology, pioneered work on the classification of plants and animals
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) (born Anglican, converted to Arianism) Calculus (co-invented by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz), Laws of Gravity & Motion
John Woodward (1665-1728) Geology, Paleontology
Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) (Calvinist) dozens of theorems, proofs, algorithms, constants and laws, theory of optics, planetary motion, electricity, magnetism, and general mechanics
Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) Systematic Biology Classification, Comparative Anatomy, Vertebrate Paleontology
Andre Marie Ampere (1775-1836) (Catholic) mathematics, chemistry, physics, electrodynamics
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) (Sandemanian) pioneer of scientific discovery, Electromagnetics, Field Theory, invented the Bunsen burner
Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Actuarial Tables, Computer Science, Father of hydrostatics
He conceived of and made an analytical machine which automatically calculated and printed mathematical tables, and logarithm tables. He invented the speedometer, the cowcatcher used on the front of locomotives, and an early ophthalmoscope-the instrument used by doctors to see inside your eye. He also invented hundreds of tools and mechanical devices for use in factories. Some of his other inventions had applications in mining, architecture and bridge construction. https://creation.com/great-creation-scientist
Christian Friedrich Schonbein (1799-1868) Chemistry, discovered ozone, developed guncotton as a propellant in firearms
Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873) an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator. (nicknamed Pathfinder of the Seas and Father of modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology)
Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) Ichthyology, Father of glacial science and a pioneer of paleontology
James Prescott Joule (1818-1889) (Catholic) Physicist, reversible Thermodynamics of work, energy and heat, and proof of the law of conservation of energy
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) (Catholic) Genetics
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) (Catholic) Bacteriology, Germs and Disease, Law of Biogenesis
Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) (William Thomson) defining the concept of energy and formalizing the laws of thermodynamics, Cryology, Energetics
Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) (Protestant) mathematician, non-Euclidean geometry, definite integral, etc.
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) (Baptist faith) summation of all electromagnetic phenomena in four differential equations, appropriately named Maxwell’s Equations
Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) (Catholic) magnetic field strength, chemistry, phosphorescence, spectroscopy, and the absorption of light, discovered radioactivity in uranium
William Ramsay (1852-1916) Isotopic Chemistry, Element transmutation, discovery of argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon
Werhner Von Braun (3/23/1912-6/16/1977) rocket technology, aerospace engineer and space architect, (responsible for manufacturing and launching the first American artificial earth satellite)
C. Everett Koop (10/14/1916-2/25/2013) Vice Admiral C. Everett Koop, USPHS Surgeon General of the United States, 13th Surgeon General of the United States, In office 1/21/1982—10/1/1989, First Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Pediatric Surgery who developed and perfected numerous surgical techniques for congenital defects. During the course of his long career, for example, he performed some seventeen thousand inguinal hernia repairs and over seven thousand orchidopexies (surgery for correcting undescended testicle). He developed new procedures, such as the colon interposition graft for correcting esophageal atresia (congenital lack of continuity of the esophagus) or ventriculoperitoneal shunts for treatment of hydrocephalus (accumulation of excessive cerebral spinal fluid in and around the brain causing neurological problems). He also tackled many difficult cases ranging from childhood cancer to surgeries done on conjoined twins, of which he and his colleagues operated upon ten pairs during his 35-year tenure. In all he operated on many children and babies with congenital defects 'incompatible with life but amenable to surgical correction'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Everett_Koop, Journal of Creation 25(3) 2011, pgs 63-67
Henry Madison Morris, Jr. (10/6/1918-2/25/2006) (PhD, hydraulic engineering, Rice University) (Baptist) was an American young earth creationist, Christian apologist, and engineer. Morris co-authored an advanced text on engineering hydraulics with J.M. Wiggert that was used "in dozens of universities worldwide" and with nine others founded the Creation Research Society (CRS), co-founded the Christian Heritage College in Santee, California which led to formation of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). Henry M. Morris, Jr.
Colonel James B. Irwin (3/17/1930-8/8/1991) American astronaut, scientist, lunar explorer, Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing, the eighth person to walk on the Moon. In the United States Air Force he received an Air Force Distinguished Service Medal and two Air Force Commendation Medals and also received an Outstanding Unit Citation while with the 4750th Training Wing. He was also a recipient of the United Nations Peace Medal and the Haley Astronautics Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Between July 26 and August 7, 1971, as the Apollo 15 Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), Irwin logged 295 hours and 11 minutes in space. His extra-vehicular activity (EVA) on the Moon's surface amounted to 18 hours and 30 minutes of the mission time where seismic activity was charted, high-energy solar particles were collected, numerous lunar core and rock samples were obtained, including the Genesis Rock and named numerous geological formations.
"Professor Tour credits his success to his Christian faith. Colleagues say that Tour, a Messianic Jew who attends West University Baptist Church, does not push his faith on others but will freely discuss it if asked. When he speaks about his Christianity, Tour becomes emotive: “I believe, fundamentally, that God creates us all.” Although fully committed to his scientific work, “he is passionate about God. In a world that increasingly associates scientists with atheism or agnosticism, Tour derives his inspiration from deep faith." James Tour—leading scientist and Darwin skeptic
List of professed Christians primarily known for their contributions to the sciences:
Nicholas Oresme (1323-1382) (Catholic) Philosopher, economist, mathematician, and physicist
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) (Catholic Priest) Astronomy, plane and spherical trigonometry
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) (Catholic) astronomer, philosopher, and physicist
Franz De le Boe (AKA Francois Du Bois) (1614-1672) German physician, anatomist and chemist; based diagnoses and treatment of patients on blood acids, alkali and salts
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) (Calvinist (assumed)) Physics, Mathematics, Optics
Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) (Dutch Reformed) improvement of the microscope and contributions towards the establishment of cell biology
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) (Lutheran) Binary arithmetic essential to modern computational machines, Calculus (co-invented by Sir Isaac Newton)
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) (Lutheran background) Botany and Zoology, Classification system for plants and animals
Georges Buffon (1707-1788) (Catholic) Biology
Charles Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806) (Catholic) mechanics (friction, viscosity), electricity, magnetism
Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) (Catholic) discovered biological electricity
Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) (Catholic) chemistry, finance, biology, and economics, law of conservation of matter, recognized and named oxygen, helped reform chemical nomenclature
John Dalton (1766-1844) (Quaker) chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory, the law of partial pressures (aka Law of multiple proportions), Dalton's law, color blindness
David Brewster (1781-1868) (Scottish Established Church) gave optics several of its laws studying the diffraction of light
Joseph Lister (1786-1869) (Quaker) Antiseptic surgery techniques
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) (Anglican) Biology, theory of evolution
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) (Christian) physicist, electromagnetic radiation of radio waves.
Wright brothers: Wilbur (1867-1912), Orville (1871-1948) (Brethren) self-propelled controlled airflight
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) (born Catholic, converted to Anglicanism) first practical wireless telegraphy system
Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) (Catholic) developed penicillin
William Robin Thompson (1887-1972) (Catholic) entomologist
William Grosvenor Pollard (1911–1989) (Episcopal priest) professor of physics, championed the organization of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies (ORINS), research on a gaseous diffusion extraction method of U-235 from common uranium
Werner Arber (1929 to present) (Christian) Professor for Molecular Genetics, microbiologist, geneticist, co-discoveror of restriction endonucleases [precursor to recombinant DNA technology]
John Charlton Polkinghorne (1930-2021) (theologian, and Anglican priest) professorship in mathematical physics, theoretical physicist about elementary particles
Sir John Houghton (1931-2020) (Presbyterian) professor in atmospheric physics
William Daniel Phillips (1948 to present) (American Methodist) professor of physics, contributions to laser cooling to slow the movement of gaseous atoms in order to better study them
References:
For expanded information see: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/ OR Catalog of the Scientific Community http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/
The Foundation of Modern Science is The Biblical Worldview http://www.geocities.com/worldview_3/scientmethod.html
Famous Scientists http://www.imbris.net/~jfromm/history.htm
Scientific units named after people http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Scientific%20units%20named%20after%20people
Alphabetical Collection of Scientific Inventions & Discoveries http://www.kerala.com/science/discover_2.htm OR http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0004637.html
Major Scientific & Medical Discoveries, Inventions & Events ~ 1650-1800 http://www.sonoma.edu/history/reason/science.html
Bible-Believing Scientists Of The Past http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-103.htm
Christian scientists affecting science http://www.christian--science.com/
Christian Influences In The Sciences http://www.rae.org/influsci.html & http://www.exchangedlife.com/Creation/origins.htm
Great Scientists Who Were Also Creationists http://spider.innercite.com/~tstout/cs/pog_a.shtml
The World's Greatest Creation Scientists - From Y1K to Y2K http://www.creationsafaris.com/wgcs_toc.htm
Creation scientists and other biographies of interest http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/bios/default.asp
Sensible Science http://www.apologeticspress.org/sensci/2004/sc-04-01.htm
Not All Scientists Believe in Evolution http://www.defendyourfaith.com/skeptical-scientists-about-evolution.htm and http://www.ukapologetics.net/07/modpassed.htm - lists more scientists
WikiPedia https://en.wikipedia.org