Quakers in science

The Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as "Quakers") encouraged some values which may have been conducive to encouraging scientific talents. A theory suggested by David Hackett Fischer in his book "Albion's Seed" indicated early Quakers in the US preferred "practical study" to the more traditional studies of Greek or Latin popular with the elite. Another theory suggests their avoidance of dogma or clergy gave them a greater flexibility in response to science.

Despite those arguments a major factor is agreed to be that the Quakers were initially discouraged or forbidden to go to the major law or humanities schools in Britain due to the Test Act. They also at times faced similar discriminations in the United States as many of the colonial Universities had a Puritan or Anglican orientation. This led them to attend "Godless" institutions or forced them to rely on hands on scientific experimentation rather than academia.

Because of these issues it has been stated Quakers are better represented in science than most religions. There are sources, [http://www.pendlehill.org//Lectures%20and%20Writings/spring2000_424.html Pendlehill] and Encyclopædia Britannica, that indicate that for over two centuries they were overrepresented in the Royal Society. Mention is made of this possibility in studies referenced in Religiousness and intelligence and in a book by Arthur Raistrick. Whether this is still accurate there have been several noteworthy members of this denomination in science. The following names a few.

ome Quakers in science

*James Backhouse - A botanist and missionary. Author abbreviation Backh.
*John Bartram — Described as the "father of American Botany", he founded Bartram Botanical Gardens in Kingsessing on the bank of the Schuylkill.
*Jocelyn Bell Burnell — She discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis advisor Antony Hewish. Raised Quaker in Northern Ireland she volunteered in "local and national Quaker activities up to in least the 1970s. [http://books.nap.edu/books/0309072700/html/371.html] She is still an active Quaker up to the present.
*Kenneth E. Boulding — Systems theorist and economist.
*Peter Collinson FRS — His family belonged to the Gracechurch meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers) and worked on electricity.
*John Dalton — For a time he taught at a Quaker school, but is best known for work in atomic theory.
*Arthur Stanley Eddington — Active in the Quaker Guild of Teachers, attended meetings regularly. [http://silas.psfc.mit.edu/eddington/ Sections 3 and 4] , also [http://www.usd.edu/phys/courses/phys300/gallery/clark/edd.html this]
*George Ellis — He co-authored The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with University of Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking. He also won the 2004 Templeton Prize and got involved with the Quaker Service Fund. [http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2004/06/24_scienceandhope/]
*Robert Were Fox the Younger - Geologist active in the early days of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
*Ursula Franklin - Metallurgist and Physicist. [http://www.btlbooks.com/New_Titles/ursulafranklin.htm]
*Thomas Hodgkin — Lived in the more ultra-orthodox era of Quakerism so wore plain clothes and spoke in a formal manner. Hodgkin's disease is named for him.
*Luke Howard — Meteorologist known for work in cloud types and nomenclature [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2218583]
*Kathleen Lonsdale — "A prominent crystallographer, who discovered the planar hexagonal structure of benzene."..."Lonsdale became a Quaker in 1935. As such, she was a committed pacifist and served time in Holloway prison during World War II because she refused to register for civil defense duties or to pay the resulting fine."
*Lewis Fry Richardson — Meteorology, "Richardson's Quaker beliefs entailed an ardent pacifism that exempted him from military service during World War I"
*Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. — "I was educated mostly at Quaker institutions, in particular Moorestown Friends School and Haverford College"... "Perhaps related to my Quaker upbringing, I've always valued personal involvement in a difficult task" From his Nobel autobiographical essay. [http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1993/taylor-autobio.html]
*Daniel Hack Tuke — Expert on mental illness "Tuke came from a long line of Quakers from York who were interested in mental illness and concerned with those afflicted."
*Caspar Wistar — Anatomist in colonial America.
*Thomas Young — Polymath and child prodigy raised Quaker.

ources

*"Quakers in Science and Industry" by Arthur Raistrick. ISBN 1-85072-106-8.

ee also

* Relationship between religion and science
* List of Quakers
* List of Friends Schools