The Study Week on Astrophysical Cosmology and Fundamental Physics marked a return to basic science and was organized by the Pontifical Academicians Hermann A. Bruck and Father G. V. Coyne, S.J. together with Prof. Martin Rees of Cambridge and Prof. Malcolm Longair of Edinburgh.
They were able to bring together some of the most important contributors to this extraordinary, interesting, exciting and active field of the astronomical sciences. The results were important, especially in guiding research on the nature of the invisible mass, which is calculated as probably ten times greater than the luminous mass.
The words pronounced by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, during the Audience he gave to the group of Academicians and scientists gathered in Castelgandolfo on 3 October 1981, will resound throughout the world scientific community.