FIVE HUNDRED years ago, a cannonball smashed the leg of a young soldier, Inigo of Loyola, shattering his dreams of becoming a pompous mid-level flunky at some long-forgotten Spanish court. Instead, he adopted the name “Ignatius” and founded the Jesuit order. The Jesuits are celebrating the anniversary of that experience this year.

The connection between Ignatius’ spirituality and my own scientific work is clear, at least to me. “Finding God in all things” means studying things; finding God in the universe. This can be theology; seeing how the universe works tells us something about its Creator. But it’s also found in the arts. Painting, poetry and science are all ways of describing the universe, drawing attention to God revealed in its many pleasing facets.