Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence?

Professor Henry F. (Fritz) Schaefer is one of the most distinguised physical scientists in the world. The U.S.News and World Report cover story of December 23, 1991 speculated that Professor Schaefer is a "five time nominee for the Nobel Prize. "He has received five of the most prestigious awards of the American Chemical Society, as well as the most highly esteemed award (the Centenary Medal) given to a non-British subject by London's Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Moreover, his general interest lectures on science and religion have riveted large audiences in nearly all the major universities in the U.S.A. and in Beijing, Berlin, Budapest, Calcutta, Cape Town, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Paris, Prague, Sarajevo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sofia, St. Petersburg, Sydney, Tokyo, Warsaw, Zagreb and Zurich. In the present book, Dr. Schaefer's university lectures have been expanded to full length essays. Thus we have a first-hand account of the lively current science/Christianity discussions by one of the major participants. Finally, the present book describes why and how Dr. Schaefer became a Christian as a young professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. Throughout, the books retains the highly personal character of the university lectures, general respect for those with whom the author disagrees, and a delightful sense of humor.

Schaefer was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, educated in Syracuse, New York, Menlo Park, California and East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He earned his B.S. degree in chemical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966. His Ph.D. degree was earned in chemical physics at Sanford University in 1969.His first professorship was at the University of California, Berkley from 1969 to 1987. He later taught at the University of Texas, Austin. In 1987, he came to the University of Georgia as the Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for Computational Chemistry. Over a thousand of his scientific articles have appeared in academic journals. He has received the Alexander von Humboldt Award, and the Peter Debye Award. He has spoken to an estimated 350 university audiences around the world. According to The Thomson Reuters web of Science indicates his work has been cited more than 57,000 times. For period 1981-1997, he was the sixth most highly cited chemist in the world, out of a total of 628,000 chemists whose research was referenced. More than a hundred students have earned their Ph.D. degree from him.