February 2013
On 15-16 February 2013, over 60 friends and colleagues of Ronald L. Numbers participated in a conference: Science without God: Religion, Naturalism and the Sciences: A Conference to Honour Ronald L. Numbers. Organized by Peter Harrison and Jon Roberts and hosted by Michael Ruse at Florida State University, the conference goal was to test the conventional wisdom about the relationship between science, naturalism, and religion. Seventeen pre-distributed papers ranging from Ancient Natural Philosophy to 19th and 20th century Biology were read with feedback provided by assigned commentators and the audience.
It was a splendid two-day affair that included a fish fry (including unlimited local oysters) on the Saturday at the Ruse’s home. A further aim of the gathering is to publish an edited collection of the talks under the guidance of Harrison and Roberts.
Now emeritus Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Numbers has several book projects underway as well as guiding three graduate students in their doctoral studies.