Physicist Wins Spirituality Prize

By Larry B. Stammer Times Staff Writer

Charles Townes, the UC Berkeley professor who shared the 1964 Nobel
Prize in physics for his work in quantum electronics and then startled
the scientific world by suggesting that religion and science were
converging, was awarded the $1.5-million Templeton Prize on Wednesday
for progress in spiritual knowledge.

The prize, the proceeds of which Townes said he planned to largely
donate to academic and religious institutions, recognized his
groundbreaking and controversial leadership in the mid-1960s in
bridging science and religion.

The co-inventor of the laser, Townes, 89, said no greater question
faced humankind than discovering the purpose and meaning of life — and
why there was something rather than nothing in the cosmos.

"If you look at what religion is all about, it's trying to understand
the purpose and meaning of our universe," he said in a telephone
interview from New York this week. "Science tries to understand
function and structures. If there is any meaning, structure will have a
lot to do with any meaning. In the long run they must come together."

Townes said that it was "extremely unlikely" that the laws of physics
that led to life on Earth were accidental.

Some scientists, he conceded, had suggested that if there were an
almost infinite number of universes, each with different laws, one of
them was bound by chance to hit upon the right combination to support
life.

"I think one has to consider that seriously," Townes told The Times.
But he said such an assumption could not currently be tested. Even if
there were a multitude of universes, he said, we do not know why the
laws of physics would vary from one universe to another.

Townes said science was increasingly discovering how special our
universe was, raising questions as to whether it was planned. To raise
such a question is the work of scientists and theologians alike, said
Townes, who grew up in a Baptist household that embraced "an
open-minded approach" to biblical interpretation. He is a member of the
First Congregational Church in Berkeley and prays twice daily.

In 1964, while a professor at Columbia University, Townes delivered a
talk at Riverside Church in New York that became the basis for an
article, "The Convergence of Science and Religion," which put him at
odds with some scientists.

In the article, Townes said science and religion should find common
ground, noting "their differences are largely superficial, and … the
two become almost indistinguishable if we look at the real nature of
each." When MIT published the article, a prominent alumnus threatened
to break ties with the institution.

In a 1996 interview with The Times, Townes said that new findings in
astronomy had opened people's minds to religion. Before the 1960s, the
Big Bang was just an idea that was hotly debated. Today, there is so
much evidence supporting the theory that most cosmologists take it for
granted.

"The fact that the universe had a beginning is a very striking thing,"
Townes said. "How do you explain that unique event" without God?

Townes this week spoke of his interest in the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence. The sheer number of stars and planets,
he said, would likely increase the probability of intelligent life
elsewhere. But for life to get started on even one planet is "highly
improbable. It might not have started more than two or three times," he
said. "It would be fascinating to find somebody out there."

Born in Greenville, S.C., in 1915, Townes received a bachelor's degree
in physics, summa cum laude, from Furman University in Greenville when
he was 19. Two years later he received a master's in physics from Duke
University, and in 1939 a doctorate in physics from Caltech with a
thesis on isotope separation and nuclear spins.

During World War II he helped develop radar systems that functioned in
the humid conditions of the South Pacific.

His research led to the development of the maser in 1954, which
amplifies electromagnetic waves, and later co-invented the laser. His
work, for which he shared the 1964 Nobel in physics, led to a wide
variety of inventions and discoveries in medicine, telecommunications,
electronics, computers and other areas.

He was named provost and professor of physics at MIT in 1961, director
of the Enrico Fermi International School of Physics in 1963, and, in
1967, professor of physics at UC Berkeley, a post he held until 1986.

The Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about
Spiritual Realities was established in 1972 by Sir John Templeton, a
global investor and philanthropist. Past winners include Mother Teresa;
evangelist Billy Graham; Holmes Rolston III, a philosopher, clergyman
and scientist whose explorations of biology and faith have helped
foster religious interest in the environment; and John C. Polkinghorne,
a British mathematical physicist and Anglican priest.

The Duke of Edinburgh is to present the prize to Townes in a private
ceremony at Buckingham Palace in April.