Ian G. Barbour, the Winifred and Atherton Bean Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society at Carleton College, will be honored on October 3-5 at a symposium titled "The Past and Future of the Science-Religion Dialogue: Celebrating the Work of Ian G. Barbour." The conference on the occasion of Barbour’s 80th birthday will be held at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, Calif.
The 20 presentations prepared for the symposium will be published as a book, "Fifty Years in Science and Religion: Ian G. Barbour and his Legacy," edited by Robert John Russell, the founder and director of the Center.
In more than a dozen books he has written or edited, Barbour has explored the theological implications of physics, cosmology, evolution, anthropology and the neurosciences, as well as ethical issues concerning technology and the environment. His most recent book, "When Science Meets Religion," has been translated into 10 languages.
Barbour earned a Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Chicago and a theology degree from Yale. He joined the faculty at Carleton in 1955 and founded the department of religion while also teaching in the physics department. In 1971 he started an interdisciplinary program now called Environmental and Technology Studies. During 1989 and 1990 he gave the Gifford Lectures in Scotland.
Barbour was awarded the 1999 Templeton Prize. Begun in 1972 by global investor Sir John Templeton, the prize exceeds the Nobel Prize as the world’s largest annual award, with a value of $1.24 million dollars. According to the citation for the prize, Barbour’s early writings had "literally created the field of science and religion."
