Catholic Scientists – Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine

Mar 6, 2026

Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine, NASA JPL Chief Scientist and Caltech planetary scientist, tells of his conversion and life balancing faith with cutting‑edge space science. He spotlights Georges Lemaître and Gregor Mendel as pivotal priest‑scientists. He discusses planetary habitability, Europa and the search for life, and how historical figures shaped cosmology and genetics.

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INSIGHT

War Between Science And Faith Is A 19th Century Myth

The narrative of an inevitable warfare between science and faith originated in the mid-19th century through works by John Henry Draper and Andrew Dixon White.
Jonathan I. Lunine explains their books caricatured history and popularized the conflict myth despite complex earlier church–science relations like the Galileo episode.

ADVICE

Use The Society Of Catholic Scientists As A Resource

Join or consult the Society of Catholic Scientists to see how faith and scientific careers harmonize and to access biographies and essays reconciling science and Catholicism.
Lunine, a founding vice president, points to the society's resources and student membership opportunities.

ANECDOTE

Europa Evidence And Europa Clipper Mission

Lunine describes his work as a planetary scientist focused on robotic exploration and habitability, including missions like Voyager, Juno, and Europa Clipper.
He details Europa's induced magnetic field evidence for a salty subsurface ocean and Europa Clipper's 2024 launch aiming to sample possible surface-exposed organics.

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Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine presents his life as a planetary scientist and Catholic convert as a lived example of the harmony between faith and science, then highlights two priest‑scientists—Georges Lemaître and Gregor Mendel—whose foundational work on the Big Bang and genetics shows that Catholic belief has stood at the center of modern scientific revolutions.

This lecture was given on February 20th, 2026, at Duke University.

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: Big Bang, Catholic Scientists Society, Conversion Story, Darwin Mendel Synthesis, Georges Lemaitre, Gregor Mendel Augustinian Monk, Myth of War Between Science And Religion, Planetary Science, Thomistic Perspective On Creation, Vatican Observatory