Religion and science may be at war in popular culture, with (mostly Christian) “creationists” attacking evolution theory, and a small group of “neo-atheist” scientists writing books denouncing religion.
But Milwaukee physicist Leonard Parker, 75, is not really interested in such issues. “I could spend my whole life worrying about that,” he said in a recent interview at his Milwaukee home. “In my opinion, for me it is a waste of time and an unnecessary source of possible conflict.”
He is content to be active in Lake Park Synagogue with his wife, Gloria, because he finds Jewish services to be “a comforting thing” and “a way to be in a group of people you feel close to.”
This sense of comfort may go back to his childhood and youth. Born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, his mother was “very Orthodox” and kept a kosher home.
His father, Parker said, was “Conservative to not very religious,” and the father changed the family name from the original Pearlman to Parker when his son was “about 10 or 11.”
Leonard has memories of Orthodox services that were “comforting and moving.” That is part of what led him to Modern Orthodox synagogues after he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee around 1969 — first Congregation Anshe Sfard, later Lake Park Synagogue.
“Science for me is a separate pursuit from religion,” Parker said. Moreover, “I would not describe myself as an atheist… Being an atheist… is something outside science.”
Over the years, some scientists — among them physicists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking — have said their work involves perceiving “the mind of God.”
Parker’s own scientific work has involved probing the deep structure of the universe. The production of subatomic particles, the expansion of the universe, quantum mechanics (the behavior of subatomic particles), the curvature of space-time, the structure of black holes (objects so massive light cannot escape from them) — all these have attracted his attention.
And as reported in an Aug. 19, 2007, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Mark Johnson (www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29379599.html), Parker has done pioneering and highly influential work on these subjects ever since his Harvard University doctoral thesis in the 1960s.
His thinking “inspired a renewed effort to unify the laws of nature,” Johnson wrote. “His work led to research by hundreds of physicists around the world and has been cited in more than 2,000 research papers.”
Moreover, since his retirement from UWM in 2008, Parker hasn’t stopped doing physics. He worked with two doctoral students who have since graduated.
He and a post-doctoral physicist, Ivan Agullo, wrote a paper together about gravity, and in 2011 they won a first prize for an essay about that paper from the Gravity Research Foundation.
He is “refereeing some papers” by other physicists. And “I still have ideas” about physics to work on, he said.
But Parker did not say whether his work has taught him anything about “the mind of God.” Instead, “I have great respect for how small man is and how little we know,” he said. “Hawking felt we were on the verge of knowing everything, but nature has its own way.”
When asked why there have been so many important Jewish scientists in modern times, Parker acknowledged that was “a very good question.”
“Jews have become more worldly, I guess,” he said. Moreover, because the discoveries of physicist Isaac Newton “agreed with observation, that influenced a lot of people to study science.”
But Parker also quickly pointed out that there were Jews interested in science long before modern times. The great medieval rabbi, codifier and theologian Moses Maimonides, for example, was not only a physician, but he also studied the astronomy of the era in order to write about the Jewish calendar, Parker said.
Moreover, the 17th century excommunicated Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza not only wrote about ethics and politics, but was a lens maker who studied and wrote about optics, Parker said.
Parker resembles many other scientists in having a wide-ranging mind. In his retirement, he is taking up the study of music, a passion shared with such scientists as Einstein.
Parker had piano lessons as a child and adolescent, but now is reading about music theory and orchestration and is thinking about starting to compose.
“I’d really like to learn what that’s all about,” Parker said. “I still have ambitions.”
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