Revd Dr Christopher Corbally S.J.
Research Astronomer
Vatican Observatory
Tucson, Arizona, United States
Biography
Dr. Christopher J. Corbally, S.J. is a research astronomer of the Vatican Observatory and was its Vice Director for the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona, until 2012. He is based in Tucson and makes occasional visits to the Observatory's headquarters at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona. He was born in England and entered the British Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1963. Part of his training included a Licentiate in Philosophy from Heythrop College, Oxon., a B.D. in Theology from London University, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Toronto.
His scientific research centers around the technique of classifying stars by their spectra. This has led him into problems of the structure and history of the Milky Way Galaxy, into the formation of systems of multiple stars, and into many aspects of the evolution of stars. He was the Project Scientist for the first of the Observatory's telescopes to be built outside of Vatican City State, the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope on Mount Graham, Arizona.
He is a past president of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. This society has been reflecting on science and values since 1954 and is a co-publisher of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. Currently he and a colleague, Dr. Margaret Boone Rappaport, are looking into what makes humans special (see http://TheHumanSentienceProject.org).
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