Can Jesus Inspire Science?

epix

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Yes. Some of his antics did come to the attention of a few scientists who, for some reason, decided to do a bit of cautious debunking. But apart from that, there maybe cases of inspiration which are scientifically too esoteric to come across easily. Here is an example in Wikipedia:
The Bond number is a measure of the importance of surface tension forces compared to body forces. A high Bond number indicates that the system is relatively unaffected by surface tension effects; a low number (typically less than one is the requirement) indicates that surface tension dominates. Intermediate numbers indicate a non-trivial balance between the two effects.

One over the Bond Number, ie. 1 / Bo is sometimes referred to as the Jesus number, Je, since bodies can walk on water if they have a large Jesus number, that is if Je > > 1.
The Bond number is the most common comparison of gravity and surface tension effects and it may be derived in a number of ways, such as scaling the pressure of a drop of liquid on a solid surface. It is usually important, however, to find the right length scale specific to a problem by doing a ground-up scale analysis. Other dimensionless numbers are related to the Bond number:
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_number

Does anyone know about other examples like that? Any contribution would be very welcome.

(As far as the Bond number is concerned, that's easy to remember.)
 
Calling the Bond number the Jesus number is something called irony.
 
Walking on water is trivial compared to allowing life in the universe i.e. The Goldilocks Principal

Therefore

Goldilocks >> Jesus
 
epix said:
Yes. Some of his antics did come to the attention of a few scientists who, for some reason, decided to do a bit of cautious debunking. But apart from that, there maybe cases of inspiration which are scientifically too esoteric to come across easily. Here is an example in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_number
Click to expand...

How is that an example of inspiring science? All it seems to be is scientists making a joke.
 
I dunno, as scientists and other people naming stuff after fairy tales go, we also have the already mentioned Goldilocks principle, and for that matter Goldilocks economy and several unrelated Goldilocks numbers, the principle of Rumpelstiltskin (no, seriously), the Cinderella complex, etc. So, yeah, Jesus too can have his name taken in vain to give a joke name to something.
 
There is a theological argument that since god created the Earth universe you can learn about god by studding it thus the requirement to do science. Throw in quite a few vicars having a reasonable amount of free time and you get a lot of botany and the like out of the CofE.
 
Well clearly Superman has also inspired science. I'm going to post the "Induction" section about the Arabidopsis thaliana locusAT3G23130 or 'SUPERMAN':

AT3G23130 said:
Repressed by KRYPTONITE/SUVH4, member of the histone H3-K9 methyltransferase family that contributes with other factors to the CpNpG methylation of the SUP gene resulting in its silencing. The alternative epigenetic states of the SUPERMAN locus have been called Clark Kent alleles. Positively regulated at an early stage of development by LEAFY and by B class homeotic proteins APETALA3 and PISTILLATA. Later expression is maintained by both the B class homeotic proteins and the C class homeotic protein AGAMOUS. These two steps of regulation require the intervention of additional factors.
Click to expand...
 
There is, after all, an entire sect of "Christ, Scientist"... Dunno how many test tubes they use in their services...
 
I know of species who's names are hillarious puns (well, hillarious after you've been reading nothing but taxonomic decriptions for six weeks). You can tell, reading the name, that the guy naming the things was bored, and was trying to see what he could get past the taxonomists. Calling something the Jesus Number because it allows something to walk on water is right in line with that.

In other words, scientists like to have a little fun. It's nothing to do with inspiration, but rather a reference to a well-known story (true or not [and I say not] it's still a story).
 
Jesus couldn't walk on the water after the crucifixion. The holes in the feet.
 
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