Science and religion?

"Human creativity is astounding. In organic chemistry there comes a point when someone comes up with a truly unique way to solve a problem – skipping over several steps in a synthetic pathway to make a compound in a truly elegant way. It all fits into place and makes such sense all of a sudden. How can people do that? This is not simply a survival skill – somehow we can understand these complex reactions, and use them to make new products. The chemist’s joy at the elegance and beauty of the solution is also worth thinking about. Beauty in chemistry? The simplicity of the solution, the symmetry and the mathematical elegance of the equations could all be called beautiful."

I just love these observations by Ruth Bancewicz on her blog - Science and Belief.

I originally trained as a colour chemist/physicist - when it comes to making colours, there's only the finest margin between the chemistry and the physics. I remember being awestruck at exploring all the different theories of what light is and how it can be split into the colours of the spectrum. Colour chemistry was also what got me initially interested in quantum theories as I puzzled over additive and subtractive colour mixing - is black always black - or can it be white at the same time? The idea of colour being described in three dimensions and mapped in a sphere... such thoughts and questions flooded my mind!

Then there was the 'fun' of trying to find the molecular structure of a dye that nobody else had yet discovered - one atomic group in the wrong place, or facing the wrong direction and you go from a potential success to abject failure!

I'm still working as a chemist now, but in food technology.  Instead of designing and creating beauty, I spend most of my working days destroying delicious looking products!  I use chemistry to break down food products into their basic components in order to analyse and quantify the particular chemicals I'm looking for. This too is fascinating and having seen that most food isn't really made of much 'stuff' at all, my interest in quantum theory has increased.

But in spite of my fascination for the scientific, I'm not an atheist. The fact that I'm aware of the intricacies of molecular structures, coupled with seeing that something 'solid' can be broken down into virtually 'nothing' only serves to strengthen my belief that all that exists cannot have been formed by accident or chance. So call me mad if you like - I'm happy to be in the ranks of mad scientists - who've often made amazing and life-changing discoveries!

"Surely men of low degree are a vapour, men of high degree are a lie;
If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapour."
Psalm 62:9