Newswise — Publicity for the film version of "Angels and Demons," based on the enormously popular book by Dan Brown and scheduled to open May 15, screams "the battle between science and religion turns to war!" St. Lawrence University physics professor Aileen O'Donoghue has searched for " and found " a peaceful solution to the conflict, at least in her own life, and described that journey in her 2007 book "The Sky Is Not A Ceiling." O'Donoghue has read "Angels and Demons," as well as Brown's blockbuster with a similar theme, "The DaVinci Code," and is available to comment on why we find stories about the crossroads of science and religion so compelling.
In "Angels and Demons," symbologist Robert Langdon discovers the resurgence of a secret society promoting science over religion, called the Illuminati.
O'Donoghue's discoveries may not be quite as dramatic, but they nonetheless make for compelling reading. What was it about the stars that drove her back to morning Mass? And how did the universe enrich her faith? Her discoveries are at once scientific and mystical, certain and mysterious. O'Donoghue's book is a rich mix of science, spirituality and mysticism that goes beyond religion, and beyond the new physics, to a universe without limits.
O'Donoghue's exploration of the intersection of science and religion has included a sabbatical spent studying at the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona, in 2001-2002. In 2000, she was one of a select group of 60 scientists from around the world chosen to participate in an international program exploring "Science and the Spiritual Quest." The project involved four groups of scientists meeting in private workshops to hear the views of their colleagues and to formulate some of their own thoughts on the similarities and differences between their scientific work and the religious or spiritual quest as they understand it. O'Donoghue met with a group of physicists and cosmologists in Paris in 2001.
"The Sky is Not a Ceiling" was published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York.
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