Niels Stensen: Scientist and Saint
Niels Stensen (1638-86) was a prominent scientist and medical doctor of the seventeenth century. He was the first to describe the endocrine glands of the head and argue for the necessity of mathematical description in biology. He carried out original research on the anatomy of the brain and laid the foundation for three new sciences: palaeontology, historical geology and crystallography.
God’s purpose in creation was that humanity should seek God’s image and should mould itself after that image. But after mankind had neglected the wisdom of God which is to be found in His handiwork, God took on the form of man so as to give us human beings an example within our own nature of the divine attributes which we must make into our own, so that we may be transformed and united with God. (Pålsson 71)