Pope Leo XIV presented the Pius XI Medal to Karin Öberg, a Harvard scientist specializing in astrochemistry, during a recent audience with members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
The award, presented on Sept. 24, recognizes scientists under the age of 45 who have distinguished themselves through their research and show “exceptional promise” in their field. Recipients of this medal include several Nobel laureates and the physicist Stephen Hawking.
Öberg holds the Thomas Dudley Cabot Chair in the Natural Sciences at Harvard University and directs the Öberg Astrochemistry Laboratory at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Her work focuses, among other topics, on chemical processes related to planet formation and chemical habitability.
But beyond her scientific career, Öberg has spoken publicly about her conversion to Catholicism and how her pursuit of knowledge influenced her journey toward faith.
In a 2011 interview with the Augustine Institute, she explained that there were aspects of the world that began to make it difficult for her to accept a strictly materialist worldview.
“There were certain facts about the world that made me very skeptical of atheism or pure materialism. I thought it was pretty obvious there is moral realism in this world, that there are things that are good and evil, regardless of what people think about them,” she noted.
Reading C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity” played an important role in that process. As she explained, the British writer’s proposal seemed reasonable to her.
“His explanation of Christianity struck me as very sensible, and it seemed to fit with the data about the world I had already gathered,” she stated.
For Öberg, however, intellectually accepting the faith was not the end of the journey. “What took time was the aspect of charity — living out the faith and truly building a relationship with God,” she explained.
The scientist has also reflected on the limits and scope of the scientific method when it comes to God. She was clear in that interview: “You can never use the scientific method to prove or disprove God.”
In her view, science does allow us to appreciate something she considers especially significant: “how intelligible the universe is, how subject to laws it is.” She added: “This cannot be taken for granted. It is magnificent.”
The beauty of the universe also plays an important role in her understanding of the relationship between science and faith. “I am moved. And beauty is, in a sense, just as impressive to me,” she said.
For this reason, Öberg said she believes that science and faith need not be presented as opposing paths.
The scientist has also spoken openly about being Catholic.
“I am very open about the fact that I am Catholic,” she said in the interview. At the same time, she explained that she prefers this openness to foster dialogue rather than lead to imposition.
“I try to be open and then invite people to come and talk to me, rather than preaching to them,” she noted.
Öberg has also expressed a special affinity for the Dominican tradition and for St. Thomas Aquinas, whom she cited as a particularly important figure for the way he united faith and reason.
Her brother, Erik Öberg, an economist specializing in macroeconomics at Uppsala University in Sweden, publicly celebrated the recognition Karin received via his LinkedIn account. “I’m very proud of her,” he stated.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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