Wernher von Braun
Letter to the California State Board of Education
September 14, 1972
 
 

Dear Mr. Grose:

In response to your inquiry about my personal views concerning the "Case for
DESIGN" as a viable scientific theory for the origin of the universe, life and
man, I am pleased to make the following observations.

For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without evoking the necessity
of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without
concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all. In the world
round us, we can behold the obvious manifestations of an ordered, structured
plan or design. We can see the will of the species to live and propagate. And we
are humbled by the powerful forces at work on a galactic scale, and the
purposeful orderliness of nature that endows a tiny and ungainly seed with the
ability to develop into a beautiful flower. The better we understand the
intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more reason we have found to
marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based.

While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question
of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method does not
allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life
and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion-that
everything in the universe happened by chance-would violate the very objectivity
of science itself.

Certainly there are those who argue that the universe evolved out of a random
process, but what random process could produce the brain of a man or the system
or the human eye?

Some people say that science has been unable to prove the existence of a
Designer. They admit that many of the miracles in the world around us are hard
to understand, and they do not deny that the universe, as modern science sees
it, is indeed a far more wondrous thing than the creation medieval man could
perceive. But they still maintain that since science has provided us with so
many answers the day will soon arrive when we will be able to understand even
the creation of the fundamental laws of nature without a Divine intent. They
challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a
candle to see the sun?

Many men who are intelligent and of good faith say they cannot visualize a
Designer. Well, can a physicist visualize an electron? The electron is
materially inconceivable and yet it is so perfectly known through its effects
that we use it to illuminate our cities, guide our airlines through the night
skies and take the most accurate measurements. What strange rationale makes some
physicists accept the inconceivable electrons as real while refusing to accept
the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive Him? I am
afraid that, although they really do not understand the electron either, they
are ready to accept it because they managed to produce a rather clumsy
mechanical model of it borrowed from rather limited experience in other fields,
but they would not know how to begin building a model of God.

I have discussed the aspect of a Designer at some length because it might be
that the primary resistance to acknowledging the "Case for Design" as a viable
scientific alternative to the current "Case for Chance" lies in the
inconceivability, in some scientists' minds, of a Designer. The inconceivability
of some ultimate issue (which will always lie outside scientific resolution)
should not be allowed to rule out any theory that explains the interrelationship
of observed data and is useful for prediction.

We in NASA were often asked what the real reason was for the amazing string of
successes we had with our Apollo flights to the Moon. I think the only honest
answer we could give was that we tried to never overlook anything. It is in that
same sense of scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative
theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom.
It would be an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned
rather than happened by chance.

With kindest regards.

sincerely,

Wernher von Braun