Catholic NASA scientist delves into investigation of potential life on other planets
By Tyler Arnold
Credit: Denis Belitsky/Shutterstock
Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2024 / 08:00 am
The unresolved question of whether life exists on other planets continues to spark curiosity from the public and the interest of scientists — but one Catholic physicist working on missions to search for potential life also recognizes it as an opportunity to see the glory of God.
Jonathan Lunine, a convert to the Catholic faith and the chief scientist for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, spoke to roughly 100 Catholic scientists about the subject at an event in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Nov. 15.
The lecture followed a Gold Mass, celebrated for Catholic scientists, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. A Gold Mass is held on the feast of St. Albertus Magnus — a Dominican friar, medieval scientist, patron saint of scientists, and mentor to St. Thomas Aquinas.
It was sponsored by The Catholic University of America and the local chapter of the Society of Catholic Scientists, which seeks to respond to St. John Paul II’s calling for Catholic scientists to “integrate the worlds of science and religion in their own intellectual and spiritual lives.”
“I’m not a theologian; I’m a scientist,” Lunine told the crowd as they finished eating brunch at the Beacon Hotel, which is a short walk from the cathedral, about a half-mile north of the White House.
Lunine — whose work at NASA has involved the search for the possibility of unintelligent microbial life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan — said that as a scientist, “this has been a wonderful journey, being able to participate in these missions.”
As a Catholic scientist, he said he sees “the gift of the mind” as a gift that “God has given us to … understand the glory of God’s creation.”
Microbial life on other planets, if it were to be found, he said, would be a “manifestation of the order that is baked into the universal design that God created when he created the universe” and created so that “beauty might shine forth from that very order.”
Lunine said those three moons are the most likely locations to have the conditions to sustain life that we have the ability to reach, particularly due to the prevalence of water. The mission to Europa should conclude between 2030 and 2035, the mission to Titan should conclude in the 2030s, and the mission to Enceladus should conclude in the 2040s, he said.
If microbial life were to be discovered on any of those moons, Lunine told CNA, it would show us that there are “other places beyond the Earth where life began.”
Lunine said more theological questions would be raised if the search for life on other planets develops into a search for intelligent and self-aware life that developed on another planet. This would lead to questions like “Are they saved?” or “Are they fallen?”, he said.
If intelligent life exists on other planets, he said it would be “hard to imagine” that none had fallen from God’s grace, noting that it is easy to fall and “even the angels, some of them have fallen.” He said this would create questions such as “did Christ come to their world in a separate incarnation” to save them, and how would humanity would “be the central pivot point of cosmic history.”
The Catholic Church holds no official position on whether intelligent life exists on other planets, but Pope Francis commented on the subject in 2015, saying: “Honestly I wouldn’t know how to answer,” adding: “Until America was discovered we thought it didn’t exist, and instead it existed.”
The pontiff, however, did affirmatively say that everything in the universe has been created through divine intelligence and “is not the result of chance or chaos.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news ... e=hs_email
ለጨዋታ ያህል
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
ለጨዋታ ያህል ነው! ኮምኩም ቁምነገርም ኣይጠፋዉም!
Extremely interesting facts
By Alessandro13
One morning in 1939, American doctoral student George Bernard Dantzig arrived late for class at the University of Berkeley.
The professor of statistics, Polish-American Jerzy Neyman, had already filled the blackboard and was about to erase it.
Dantzig, not wanting to be left behind, asked him to wait a moment, giving him time to copy his notes (a student today would simply take a photo of the blackboard with his smartphone).
He then came across two statements that he thought were for homework assignments, and he wrote them down in his notebook.
When he returned home, the problems "appeared to be a little more difficult than usual," and he solved them with great difficulty, so much so that he turned them in late to Neyman, apologizing.
"Well, leave them in a corner on my table," Neyman told him, pointing to his messy papers.
A few weeks later, one Sunday morning Dantzig heard a knock at the door.
It was Professor Neyman, excited and armed with a stack of papers.
"Read this right away, I plan to submit it for publication today!"
Neyman had reworked Dantzig's "homework" into a publishable article, inserting his own introduction.
What Dantzig had mistakenly taken for rather complicated homework were in fact the statements of two important statistical conjectures that no one had yet been able to prove.
Dantzig, without realizing it, had approached them as particularly complex problems.
That brilliant student would become the father of linear programming, famous above all for having invented the simplex algorithm, a fundamental tool in operations research.
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
እንዲያው ለጨዋታ ያህል ነው!
By Geleta Gudeta
An elephant and a dog became pregnant at the same time. Three months later, the dog gave birth to six puppies. Six months after that, she was pregnant again, and nine months later, she gave birth to another dozen puppies. This pattern continued for some time.
Eighteen months later, the dog approached the elephant and asked, "Are you sure you're pregnant? We conceived on the same day. I've already given birth to a dozen puppies three times, and you're still expecting! What's going on?"
The elephant calmly replied, “There’s something important I need you to understand. What I carry isn’t a puppy; it’s an elephant. I only give birth once every two years, but when my baby touches the earth, the world will feel it. When it crosses a street, people will stop and stare in awe. What I carry is powerful and majestic."
She continued, “Don’t lose faith. When you see others receiving their rewards quickly, don’t feel jealous if yours hasn’t come yet. Don’t despair. Instead, remind yourself, 'My time is coming. And when it does, people will be amazed.'"
MORAL:
God’s timing is perfect. Everything comes when it is meant to—never too soon, never too late, but always at the right moment.
Credits: inspiring the world
Source from Dr fami on FB
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
Meleket:Meleket wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 08:57ለጨዋታ ያህል ነው! ኮምኩም ቁምነገርም ኣይጠፋዉም!
Extremely interesting facts
By Alessandro13
One morning in 1939, American doctoral student George Bernard Dantzig arrived late for class at the University of Berkeley.
The professor of statistics, Polish-American Jerzy Neyman, had already filled the blackboard and was about to erase it.
Dantzig, not wanting to be left behind, asked him to wait a moment, giving him time to copy his notes (a student today would simply take a photo of the blackboard with his smartphone).
He then came across two statements that he thought were for homework assignments, and he wrote them down in his notebook.
When he returned home, the problems "appeared to be a little more difficult than usual," and he solved them with great difficulty, so much so that he turned them in late to Neyman, apologizing.
"Well, leave them in a corner on my table," Neyman told him, pointing to his messy papers.
A few weeks later, one Sunday morning Dantzig heard a knock at the door.
It was Professor Neyman, excited and armed with a stack of papers.
"Read this right away, I plan to submit it for publication today!"
Neyman had reworked Dantzig's "homework" into a publishable article, inserting his own introduction.
What Dantzig had mistakenly taken for rather complicated homework were in fact the statements of two important statistical conjectures that no one had yet been able to prove.
Dantzig, without realizing it, had approached them as particularly complex problems.
That brilliant student would become the father of linear programming, famous above all for having invented the simplex algorithm, a fundamental tool in operations research.
What an eyes swelling story. Thank you for sharing it.
Yes, we can get out of our sectarian political arguments and be fascinated equally by science.
I did not know the fascinating story behind the invention of linear programming (LP.)
What a noble Professor who prepares a publishable article out of his student’s presumed homework problem.
I also did not know that LP was kept secret until 1947. It is now used daily by many industries.
Operations Research that started with LP has mathematically grown far more complex.
I found Nonlinear Programming (NLP) more fascinating than LP even though I don’t think that it is very popular in the real world like LP. It navigates a curvilinear terrain to find maximum profit or minimum cost. As you learn about how it works, it reminds you the mountains and valleys that you were exposed to while growing up and running around.
I liked Integer Programming (IP) as very fulfilling. It was a mathematical fun for me.
A Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) is even more complex than NLP. One attempt to solve it was to use an interface of solving the IP and NLP components separately. You tackle the integers and real numbers separately and search for an optimal solution.
I also didn’t know that the inventor of the Simplex Algorithm was a Professor at Stanford University.
So, no wonder that when a MINLP formulation was first presented in the class of a Professor who graduated from Stanford University, he quickly understood it very well.
If you find the science of Operations Research a bit complicated, may be you can run it by our Ethiopian Professor Horus. He will explain it to you simply, quickly, and easily.
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
ለጨዋታ ለፈገግታና ለቁምነገርም ያህል ነው! ይመቻችሁ!
"Patriotism ?"
by Marie E. LeBlanc
After passengers were loaded on the train from France to Britain, a French woman ended up sitting next to an Englishman.
She appeared to be quite distressed so he asked her, "Why are you so worried?", he said."I have more than the $10,00 I'm allowed to bring", said the French woman.
The Englishman said, "If you split it between us and Border guards stop you, or me, you will still have half of your money. Give me your address and I'll get it back to you when we get to London."
After inspection, the French woman passed and had no problem being allowed into the country. The Englishman then shouted, "Officer! This woman was carrying more than ten thousand dollars! She then gave me half to smuggle it into the country and she has the other half! I will not betray my country! I cooperated with her to prove my love for England!"
They searched the French woman's luggage again, found her money and confiscated it. They thanked the Englishman man for his patriotism and deported the French woman.
Two days later, the woman was surprised to see the Englishman at her door. "You betrayed me!” she said. "What do you want now?" He then handed her an envelope containing $15,000 dollars.
"It's your money for the reward", he said. "I simply wanted to distract them from my luggage, because I was carrying three million dollars!"
The lesson: Sometimes the one who claims patriotism is the real thief.
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
“ውይይት እንበለው ‘ጭውውት’” - ለጨዋታ ነው ለፈገግታና ለቁምነገርም! ይመቻችሁ!
God
In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”
The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”
The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”
The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”
The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery, there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”
The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”
The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her, this world would not and could not exist.”
Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”
To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.”
Maybe this was one of the best explanations of the concept of GOD.
– this lovely parable is from Your Sacred Self by Dr. Wayne Dyer
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
ለጨዋታ ነው ለፈገግታና ለቁምነገርም! ይመቻችሁ!
Vladimir Putin making a school visit...
Vladimir Putin, wanting to get on the good side of voters, goes to visit a school in Moscow to have a chat with the kids. He talks to them about how Russia is a powerful nation and how he wants the best for the people.
At the end of the talk, there is a section for questions, Little Alina puts her hand up and says "I have two questions"
"Why did the Russians take Crimea? And Why are we sending troops to Ukraine?"
Putin says "Good questions" But just as he is about to answer, the bell goes, and the kids go to Lunch.
When they come back, they sit back down and there is room for some more questions, another girl, Tatiana, puts her hand up and says "I have Four questions"
"My Questions are - Why did the Russians invade Crimea? Why are we sending troops to Ukraine? Why did the bell go 20 minutes early? And Where is Alina?"
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
ኣቦ የወርጅናሌ ካርቱኒስቶች ጥበብ ሲያዝናና! ለጨዋታ ለፈገግታና ለቁምነገርም ነው።
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
ለመዝናናት ለሳቅና ለፈገግታም ነው፡ ቡናውን ፉት እያልን! ቁምነገሩንም ኣንዘንጋ!
Humor: What are some of the greatest examples of presence of mind?
Sandeep Maheshwari
Teacher addresses a student and asks: “How many kidneys do we have?"
“Four!", The student responds.
“Four? Haha,” The teacher was one of those who took pleasure in picking on his students' mistakes and demoralizing them.
“Bring a bundle of grass, because we have an [deleted] in the room," the teacher orders a front bencher.
“And for me a coffee!”, the student added.
The teacher was furious and expelled the student from the room.
The student was, by the way, the humorist Aparicio Torelly Aporelly (1895-1971), better known as the "Baron de Itararé".
On his way out of the classroom, the student still had the audacity to correct the furious teacher:
"You asked me how many kidneys ‘we have’. We have four: two of mine and two of yours. ‘We have’ is an expression used for the plural. Enjoy the grass.”
Life demands much more understanding than knowledge. Sometimes people, because they have a little more knowledge or ‘believe’ that they have it, feel they have the right to underestimate others.
Re: ለጨዋታ ያህል
ለጨዋታ ያህል ነው! ግሩምና ቅልብጭብጭ ያለች ገላጭም ኣስተማሪም ምሳሌ! ቁምነገሯን አትዘንጉ!
ኣቦ የተማረ ያስተምር ሲባል እውነት ነው! የዩኒቨርሲቲውን ፕረዚደንት አመስግነናል!
.. .. .. Imagine five banks in a neighborhood. Four install high-end security systems, while the fifth does not. The local crime boss targets that vulnerable bank and threatens to rob it if it tries to upgrade its defenses—claiming he feels “threatened” by the installation of better alarms. Such logic is nonsensical. The mafia is not truly afraid of security cameras; it simply prefers to rob the unprotected. Russia’s approach in Ukraine is hardly different: it prefers weak neighbors that can be dominated and pillaged with minimal cost.
Dan Rice is the President of the American University Kyiv, former Special Advisor to the Commander of Ukraine Armed Forces
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polyti ... ssion.html
ኣቦ የተማረ ያስተምር ሲባል እውነት ነው! የዩኒቨርሲቲውን ፕረዚደንት አመስግነናል!