George Coyne

George Coyne
Born
George Vincent Coyne

(1933-01-19)January 19, 1933
DiedFebruary 11, 2020(2020-02-11) (aged 87)
Alma materFordham University (B.S.)
Georgetown University (Ph.D.)
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsVatican Observatory

George Vincent Coyne, S.J. (January 19, 1933 – February 11, 2020) was an American Jesuit priest and astronomer who directed the Vatican Observatory and headed its research group at the University of Arizona from 1978 to 2020.

From January 2012 until his death, he taught at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. His career was dedicated to the reconciliation of theology and science, while his stance on scripture was absolute: "One thing the Bible is not," he said in 1994, "is a scientific textbook. Scripture is made up of myth, of poetry, of history. But it is simply not teaching science."[1]

  1. ^ Hitt, Jack (May 28, 1994). "Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?". New York Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.