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BYU chemistry professor Brian F. Woodfield has taught at BYU for over 25 years and has taught thousands of students over the years. Woodfield leads a graduate research group called the Woodfield Lab Group, which focuses on studying industrially and technologically important materials. Woodfield is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and brings science to faith.
Q: What made you decide to study chemistry and pursue a lifelong career?
A: I grew up in a home where we wanted to understand how everything works. My father was a pioneer in computers and he took things apart and put them back together. He repaired all of our cars, appliances, and other things. I had a similar way of thinking about looking at the world and trying to understand it. This understanding wasn’t just limited to computers. I’m the youngest kid in my family, and my older brother studied chemistry in high school and told me about chemistry. It sounded really interesting and that’s how I got addicted to chemistry.
My father was always involved in NASA and military projects. He was a senior software engineer at Apollo, so we were always interested in the space industry. He explained how rockets work and I was interested in low temperature physics.
Q: How is science compatible with religion?
A: It’s surprising how well people know what science is about. Many people think that science is the enemy. Parley P. Pratt wrote a book in 1850 called “Keys to the Science of Theology”. At that time he was an apostle and had the insight that all academic subjects are only parts of the theology of the gospel. If you take the perspective that there is religion and then build a barrier between religion and academics, then conflicts arise. But you can take the view that the Church and religion in general seek the truth when trying to understand the nature of God and how He interacts with us and how He is incorporated into our lives.
In the natural sciences, we are trained to adopt theories, understand them, and understand models as part of this discipline. If the models work we keep them, but if they don’t work we make a better model that will help us understand it even better. In the end we are looking for the truth. All of these processes – including the search for the truth – sit under religion and are not against it.
Just because a model isn’t working properly doesn’t mean it’s still not useful. If a model is useful and helps us predict or understand, it doesn’t have to be basically true forever, but it is still considered useful.
My approach is that I don’t look for reasons why not, but reasons why. Why is it consistent, how does it fit? Sometimes it can take decades to understand this understanding.
Q: What theories are taught in a typical academic curriculum that are conventionally considered incompatible with religion?
A: The classic is evolution. I am not an expert – I am not an evolutionary biologist. However, I think you will find that there isn’t a single professor of biology or the BYU life sciences division who has a problem with evolution because it’s a model that works. It is not incompatible with God, for it is just a mechanism by which God can accomplish His creation and create the diversity of the world that we see.
The problem arises when well-meaning people look to God and think they know how He did everything. Our approach to science is to find out how He did things. If we are to find out how He did things, then models do not become incompatible. They are just a way to try to understand the truth of God and His nature. Hence, in my opinion, evolution is not at all incompatible.
In my discipline of quantum mechanics, some of the basic principles are that there is uncertainty. We cannot know exactly where the electron is and many students will say that this is incompatible with God because God knows all things. However, I turn it around and say that there are many examples where the rationale is to let people choose. In the preexistence we fought for the ability to choose instead of being forced not to have a choice. We made up our minds and determined in advance that we want to have a choice – to have uncertainty. With quantum mechanics, it’s not the other way around, it’s another example of God and the role of Jesus Christ.
Q: What are some aspects of science that people normally do not understand well and that provide enlightenment rather than belittle belief?
A: It is very relevant that science hit something around the time of COVID-19. People think that science has ulterior motives, that there are conspiracy theories, and that science wants a certain result. Science is geared towards taking measurements, collecting data, explaining the data, admitting when the models are wrong, and developing new models. I think people here are misunderstanding how science works. There is no other agenda than understanding. Science is not trying to support someone’s agenda.
In church you ask questions, then you think, and when it makes sense, trust in them grows. If it doesn’t work then work it out by trying another way that works. We are an experienced church. We don’t believe others to find out for ourselves. This is exactly how science works.
Q: Did studying science strengthen your testimony and understanding of God?
A: There’s no question that studying science and working as a temple worker over the past seven years has helped me more than anything else to understand God and Christ and their roles and the world. I can only see the hand of God in science.
Q: As a professor at BYU, one of your main goals is to build the faith of the students you teach. What specific lessons do you teach your students to help increase their faith and understanding of God?
A: If there is a principle for my students to learn, I want them to learn that it is okay not to understand something. You don’t have to have instant answers to everything. The journey is not about knowing the answers, it is about learning how to get the answers. You learn to solve your own problems. I hope they will not become chemists but rather the skills we taught them in chemistry and how to apply them in every aspect of their life, be it in church, as a leader, etc., as a parent or a doctor.
Eugene England, a BYU professor who died about 20 years ago, said religion is a laboratory where we learn to apply gospel principles. By teaching the principles of chemistry, I hope to teach students how to better understand what they are observing not only in chemistry but in the world around them and those principles in our laboratory, our family and in the laboratory by applying our religion to be better people.
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