Scientists from around the world are meeting at the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo for a conference that seeks to bring together science and religion in the continuing search for truth in understanding the mysteries of the universe.
The scientific conference titled, “Black Holes, Gravitation-al Waves and Space-Time Singularities,” is an opportunity to show that “the church supports good science,” said Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory.
“We are hoping that this meeting will also be an encounter of people with very different opinions but very close friendships that come from having the same common desire to understand the truth of the universe and how we can understand that truth,” he said. The 2016 discovery of the existence of gravitational waves, predicted nearly 100 years ago by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity, was to be one of the topics of discussion. The discovery could open a new chapter in understanding celestial events and black hole regions in the universe, something that previously could only be hypothesised.
The conference will also celebrate the scientific legacy of Msgr. George Lemaitre, one of the fathers of the theory that the expanding universe could be traced to an origin point, also known as the “Big Bang theory.” The conference will also celebrate the scientific legacy of Msgr George Lemaitre, one of the fathers of the ‘Big Bang theory’
