Beauty and Religiosity in Science

What role does beauty play in science? To address this question, this lecture draws on data from the world’s first empirical study of the role of beauty in science, conducted in the UK, US, Italy, and India. After analyzing surveys of more than 3000 physicists and biologists and in-depth interviews with more than 200 of them, we identify ways in which scientists’ aesthetic experiences shape the practice of science and the well-being of scientists. The presentation will also assess the relationship between scientists’ aesthetic experiences and their religious / spiritual commitments.