Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty ― How the Personal Perspective Discovers Creation

When scientists describe their results or insights as beautiful are they using the term differently from when they use it of a landscape, music or another person? Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty re-examines the way in which seeing beauty in the world plays the key role in scientific advances, and argues that the reliance on such a personal point of view is ultimately justified by belief that we are made in the image of God, as Christian and Jewish believers assert.It brings a fresh voice to the ongoing debate about faith and science, and suggests that scientists have as much explaining to do as believers when it comes to the ways they reach their conclusions.

Robert Gilbert has worked in Oxford since 1999, in 2002 becoming Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry at Magdalen College. He was Senior Dean of Arts of the College from 2005-2009 and from 2004-2012 held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in the Division of Structural Biology, part of the Department of Medicine. He is now a Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor there, combining these roles with that of Director of Graduate Studies and his Faculty and College teaching. From 2009-2011 Dr Gilbert trained for ordination as an Anglican priest, before being deaconed in 2011 and priested in 2012. He is currently completing his curacy in the parishes of Wolvercote and Wytham in North Oxford. He is the author of over 80 scientific articles and co-edited an international scientific monograph published in 2014.