Proud tradition of Catholic scientists

I BELIEVE two stories in Scotland on Sunday have done the Catholic Church's role toward science a disservice.

The works of Nicolaus Copernicus were never "condemned as heretical by the church because it removed Earth and humanity from the centre of the universe", (News, 23 June).

His works were welcomed by the Church and taught as theory in Jesuit colleges. Indeed, his work De Revolutionibus was dedicated to Pope Paul III and only published following encouragement from several Cardinals.

The reasons for the eventual condemnation of the Copernican theory are many but not limited to Galileo's insistence that Scripture should be reinterpreted and his derision of his patron, Pope Urban VIII. Even so, Fr Roger Boscovich continued to make use of the heliocentric theory in his research without condemnation.

Elsewhere in the same issue, the review of the history of genetics (Insight, 23 May) overlooks the contributions of Fr Gregor Mendel.

Mendel (1822-1884) was a Catholic priest, who over a period of seven years conducted a series of experiments on pea plant hybridisation and formulated what are now known as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance.

Mendel's work, first presented in 1865, whilst receiving little attention at the time and indeed some criticism, is now considered to be a seminal work.

If Fr Mendel had been a minor player in the study of genetics this oversight might be considered excusable, however Mendel is known as the "Father of Modern Genetics".

Ian Maxfield, Robeton by Biggar