Bernard d’Espagnat, physicist, philosopher of science, and 2009 Templeton Prize Laureate, passed away on Saturday, August 1, at the age of 93. D’Espagnat played a key role during a revolutionary period of exploration and development in quantum mechanics in the 1960s and 1970s, specifically on experiments testing the “Bell’s inequalities” theorem.
Are the biological sciences and religion in perpetual conflict with one another? Not necessarily, some believe, although the question remains a challenging one. Yet, this did not stop over 400 people who gathered to explore and discuss the topic in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan and online from June 30-July 2 for the Evolution and Christian Faith Conference, the culmination of a 3-year program supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
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An app under development promises to improve creativity and nurture the imagination. The app is the work of Sophie von Stumm, director of the Hungry Mind Lab at Goldsmiths, University of London, whose initiative is one of 16 proposals that have been selected through a grant competition from the Imagination Institute, based at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center.
An important new discovery has been announced by a team of astrophysicists based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), through work funded by the John Templeton Foundation’s Alien Earths Initiative. The CfA is a major partner with the Geneva Observatory and the researchers have found the closest known exoplanet to Earth that transits its star. The discovery could lead to new breakthroughs in advancing one of the most profound big questions: does life exist elsewhere in the universe?
The John Templeton Foundation has released its 2015 Foundation Report, “from Learning to Progress,” advancing the vision and spirit of Sir John Templeton.
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One of the best known examples of the oddities of quantum physics is the so-called Schrödinger’s Cat. The cat is deemed to be neither dead nor alive, but rather existing in a so-called quantum superposition of both states; that is, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive. Such superpositions do not exist at the macro level of everyday experiences but do exist at the micro level of quantum reality. The puzzle is how the two relate.
Imagine you’re asked to solve some simple math problems and are offered payment for each correct answer. Then you are allowed to mark your own test, report your own score, and receive the cash without anything being checked. Would you be honest? Would you mark, score, and report correctly? Or would you be tempted to say that you did just a little bit better than you actually did?
Heather Templeton Dill, daughter of the late Dr. Jack Templeton and granddaughter of the late Sir John Templeton, has been appointed president of the John Templeton Foundation by the board of trustees.