Research into the origins and evolution of the universe, of matter and of life belongs to the focal topics of the natural sciences. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has repeatedly paid attention to these questions both in plenary sessions and in specialised meetings. In recent years relevant basic scientific knowledge has been considerably enriched, in particular by the introduction of novel and powerful research strategies. Cosmic investigations can reach ever greater distances, while particle physics and the nanosciences allow scientists to explore structures of ever smaller dimensions. The results of these largely interdisciplinary studies considerably enrich our knowledge about natural reality and they also raise new questions. These concern, for example, a postulated multiverse or dark matter and, more generally, cosmic evolution. In the life sciences more precise structural knowledge on genetic information and on gene products provides insights not only into functional characteristics but also into molecular mechanisms that contribute to the occasional generation of genetic variants – the drivers of biological evolution. By definition, evolution implies a changing reality. This is what the sciences have postulated as holding both for the inanimate cosmos and for the living world. Ever more powerful research strategies continue to strengthen the validity of these postulates.
The Council of the Pontifical Academy invites the Academicians to present in the forthcoming Plenary Session any scientific contributions that may validate or falsify evolution ary theories and can provide a deeper insight into the evolutionary processes of the living and of the non-living world. This might allow our Academy to update its own knowledge basis and to transmit this knowledge to human society for an actualisation of its science-based worldview. Scientific knowledge forms – in addition to traditional wisdom, religious beliefs and educational values – an essential part of the
Scientific Insights into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life
Scientific Insights into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life
List of Participants
Prof. Nicola Cabibbo
H.E. Msgr. Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo
Prof. Werner Arber
Prof. Antonio M. Battro
Prof. Enrico Berti
Prof. Luís A. Caffarelli
Prof. Luigi L. Cavalli-Sforza
Prof. Aaron J. Ciechanover
H.Em. Georges Card. Cottier
Prof. Stanislas Dehaene
Prof. Christian de Duve
Prof. Albert Eschenmoser
Prof. José G. Funes, S.J.
Prof. Takashi Gojobori
Prof. Theodor Hänsch
Prof. Stephen W. Hawking
Rev. Prof. Stanley L. Jaki
Prof. Krishnaswami Kasturirangan
Prof. Vladimir I. Keilis-Borok
Prof. Klaus von Klitzing
Prof. Nicole Le Douarin
Prof. Yuan-Tseh Lee
Prof. Pierre J. Léna
Rev. Prof. Jean-Michel Maldamé, O.P.
H.Em. Carlo Maria Card. Martini, S.J.
Prof. M. Govind Kumar Menon
Prof. Jürgen Mittelstrass
Prof. Marshall W. Nirenberg
Prof. Cesare Pasini
Prof. William D. Phillips
Prof. Ingo Potrykus
Prof. Yves Quéré
Prof. Peter H. Raven
Prof. Martin J. Rees
Prof. Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe
Prof. Vera C. Rubin
Dr. Maxine F. Singer
Prof. Wolf J. Singer
Prof. Govind Swarup
Prof. Andrzej Szczeklik
Prof. Hans Tuppy
Prof. Rafael Vicuña
Prof. Edward Witten
Prof. Antonino Zichichi
Prof. John Abelson
Prof. Giorgio Bernardi
Prof. Francis S. Collins
Prof. Yves Coppens
Prof. Fiorenzo Facchini
Prof. Ulrich Lüke
H.Em. Christoph Card. Schönborn
Prof. Gereon Wolters
Prof. Juan A. Larraín
Prof. Nikolaus Knöpffler
Prof. Wolfgang Weigand
Mr. Francesco Cavalli-Sforza