The Making of Another Catholic Scientist – Prof. Jonathan Lunine
The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute
4.8 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Prof. Jonathan Lunine offers a personal and intellectual witness that one can be both a serious planetary scientist and a committed Catholic, describing his journey from Jewish upbringing and “cradle astronomer” to baptism and then to public advocacy against the supposed science–faith conflict.
This lecture was given on January 15th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Jonathan Lunine is the Chief Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Beforehand, he was the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Lunine is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes maintain and establish habitability, and what kinds of exotic environments (methane lakes, etc.) might host a kind of chemistry sophisticated enough to be called "life". He pursues these interests through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions. He is co-investigator on the Juno mission now in orbit at Jupiter, using data from several instruments on the spacecraft, and on the MISE and gravity science teams for the Europa Clipper mission. He was on the Science Working Group for the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on characterization of extrasolar planets and Kuiper Belt objects. Lunine has contributed to concept studies for a wide range of planetary and exoplanetary missions. Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has participated in or chaired a number of advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA.
Keywords: Aquinas On Providence, Catholic Scientists, Conflict Thesis Critique, Darwin-Mendel Evolution, Jesuit Vatican Observatory, Jonathan Lunine Conversion Story, Religion And Modern Cosmology, Science Faith Compatibility, Society Of Catholic Scientists, Thomistic View Of Randomness
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. |
| 0:06.2 | Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square. |
| 0:12.7 | The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world. |
| 0:19.3 | To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at to mystic institute.org. |
| 0:25.0 | So I'm not a cradle Catholic, but as you know, I'm a cradle astronomer. |
| 0:29.9 | From my earliest childhood, I was fascinated by the heavens. |
| 0:33.9 | As I talked about, you couldn't see the heavens from New York City. |
| 0:37.6 | It was simply too bright. |
| 0:40.3 | And so the Hayden Planetarium was, for me, a kind of, I didn't realize it at the time, |
| 0:46.6 | but a sort of a secular temple. |
| 0:49.0 | You would go into this enormous rotunda. |
| 0:53.5 | You would sit in these seats. |
| 0:55.9 | This creature would rise from a central pit |
| 1:01.1 | commanded by an astronomer |
| 1:03.3 | who was controlling all of it in a console. |
| 1:06.6 | I'm sure it had sort of the flavor |
| 1:08.4 | of an ancient Roman pagan rite in a large temple. |
| 1:13.7 | And then the lights would darken, the room would darken, and the projector with its myriad lenses would project the stars on the inner dome. |
| 1:25.2 | And so the universe would come to life. |
| 1:28.3 | That really kind of made an impression on me, |
| 1:30.6 | this sort of visceral experience of the universe. |
| 1:35.1 | And I think in many ways, although it's not the reason |
... |
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