Science and Christianity are often viewed as incompatible, but they mix well for a renowned chemist who visited UW-Eau Claire Thursday.

Henry "Fritz" Schaefer III gave a presentation titled "My Spiritual Journey" to UW-Eau Claire students, faculty and staff. The former University of California, Berkeley professor who currently is director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry (CCQC) at the University of Georgia, also gave a talk over the dinner hour titled "The Challenge of Being a Person of Faith in a Scientific World" and ended his visit with a speech titled "The Big Bang, Stephen Hawking and God" Thursday night.

Schaefer said he hasn't always been a Christian. He became one during his fourth year as a professor at Berkeley.

"I was challenged to consider the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ," he said. "I did that for a couple of years and became convinced intellectually that's true."

He said he hoped to get students thinking about "spiritual things" during his time in Eau Claire.

"The questions he's trying to answer are questions of life -- questions that don't change -- that we tend to ask as human beings," said Dave Johnson, who works with Cru, a religious group that brought Schaefer to campus.

Schaefer also met with UW-Eau Claire chemistry students Thursday afternoon and took the opportunity to do some recruiting.

"We were looking for new Ph.D.

Schaefer is friends with Berkeley professor Richard Saykally, a UW-Eau Claire alumnus.

"I'm looking for the next Rich Saykally to come and work with me for a Ph.D.," Schaefer said.

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At UW-Eau Claire, chemist mixes science, spirituality