Good scientists have active imaginations, can be religious, and are not boring by definition, according to Dr William Reville of University College Cork.
In a lecture in Cork last night, Dr Reville said that because the word science meant "a discovery of new knowledge about how the world works", scientists could not be boring. They could come across as aloof and rather shy, he said, but that conception was changing. "You don't have to be a nerd to do science."
Religion and science could be compatible. "It's not necessary to be an atheist to be a scientist." The two could work together because whereas religion answered the questions about the purpose of life and gave an incentive on how to live a moral life, science had nothing to say about these things, Dr Reville said.
There were, however, some things science could not do, he added. Science could investigate and understand how the natural world worked but it could not tell observers how to feel about it and science was outside of the spiritual dimension as well.
"(Science) doesn't provide any moral guidelines. It is subject to them of course, but it can't tell you how to be good or moral or how to be happy."
While the applications of science needed a code of ethics, the methods of investigation and the actual body of knowledge developed were "human culture activities" and did not need such codes. "They are in no more need of a code of ethics than is literature," he said.
Dr Reville is a senior lecturer at UCC and a science columnist for The Irish Times.