Elegance in Science

I was asked to describe the elegance in science that points to God. But first, I believe it to be important to understand the term, or at least come to an agreement on a common understanding of the term, or at least know what I, the author of this post, take "science" to mean, because there are as many different definitions as there are scientists. There are quotes of all kinds, many very eloquent, that try to define this word, but for me it reduces to "the practice of trying to figure out how things work." There is much more to be said on this, but I will leave it alone for the moment. My idea of what is a scientist is directly predicated on my definition of science. In essence, it is one who is curious. I believe that all of us come out as scientists. We continually and without interruption attempt to figure out everything we can about this world we just entered. As we get older, we build more sophisticated ideas as our personal knowledge base grows and as our own capabilities for understanding expands.

You may have thought that I have forgotten the original question, but I have not. I have blathered on about semantics because I think that our curiosity is fundamental to understanding the wonder of God through science. Because God did not make a simple world. Everything is not just immensely complex, but infinitely complex. What man creates has a stopping point of complexity. We are fully able to figure out what the creator has done, and complete the project of "figuring it out." Only God could create a universe such as it is, with infinite complexity, ever smaller details, ever more intricate interactions. We will never have a complete answer for everything (or anything!), and so we, humanity, will always be compelled to look further and examine more closely, and think harder, and consider new ideas. We will never run out of things to be curious about! Any issue can be subjected to the child's tactic of asking why? why? why? There are always new questions, deeper questions to be asked, and always a point where we cease to have sufficient answers. That is the beauty of science, that we never fear knowing everything- praise God, for that would be a dull existence indeed.

I would also point out that there is an incredible amount of elegance within the answers that we find. In my experience with statistics, there have been so many instances where I would start with a complex model, go through pages of equations, algebraic manipulations, complicated derivations, integrations, summations and calculations, only to obtain at the end a solution beautifully understandable, so easily interpreted, something that our intuition easily grasps- this is elegance. There is also beauty in seeing how everything works together. There is an intrinsic power to awe within every field of science that I have studied. I enjoy learning about as many different things in the realm of natural science as I can, because it is truly enjoyable to see how things work together. Just as a mechanic can appreciate the ingenuity and capability that was required to build a car, so much more are we able to appreciate and enjoy how the things that God has made works.