Since the 19th century, the dominant narrative in the history of science has been that of science triumphant and of science at war with religion. In the 1970s, however, a new generation of historians began to examine various episodes in the history of science and religion through the values and knowledge of the actors themselves. In a new volume, Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion, Ronald L. Numbers has brought together the leading scholars of this new history of science. Their essays puncture a range of still-prevalent myths, from Galileo’s incarceration to Darwin’s deathbed conversion to Einstein’s belief in a personal God who “didn’t play dice with the universe.” The book is based on papers delivered at a 2007 conference supported by the Templeton Foundation.

Ronald L. Numbers is the Hilldale Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A leading figure in the field, he is an authority on the history of creationism and creation science. He is currently working on a one-volume history of science in America since European settlement and co-editing (with David Lindberg) the eight-volume Cambridge History of Science.