Scientists and Religion in America; September 1999; Scientific American Magazine; by Larson, Witham; 6 Page(s)

A stone's throw from the Potomac River in Washington, D. C., a bronze statue of Albert Einstein reposes in a garden beside the National Academy of Sciences. Could there be a more fitting individual than this mythic figure to symbolize the highest echelon of scientists in America?

Having fled to the U.S. from the secular horrors of Nazi Germany because of his religious heritage, Einstein never ceased musing about religion and once challenged quantum uncertainty by famously denying that God plays dice with the universe. Late in life, however, he concluded, "In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God."