Prof. Dr. Hab. Michał Heller (born 1936) is a cosmologist, philosopher, and theologian, specializing in relativistic cosmology, noncommutative geometry, the philosophy and history of science, and the study of the relationship between science and religion. He is a retired professor of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow and a staff member of the Vatican Observatory. He has been a fellow and visiting professor at universities in Oxford, Cambridge, Bochum, Louvain, and Washington.
Prof. Heller is the author of over 80 books, including “Spaces of the Universe,” “God and Geometry,” “The Philosophy of Chance,” “Ultimate Explanations of the Universe,” “Philosophy and the Universe,” “Quantum Cosmology,” “Happiness in Banach Spaces,” and “The Meaning of Life and the Meaning of the Universe,” as well as several hundred scientific articles published in journals such as “Astrophysics and Space Science,” “Physics Letters A,” “General Relativity and Gravitation,” “Physical Review D,” “Classical and Quantum Gravity,” “Journal of Mathematical Physics,” “Foundations of Physics,” “International Journal of Theoretical Physics,” and “Foundations of Science.”
He holds honorary doctorates from many universities, including Jagiellonian University, AGH University of Science and Technology, University of Silesia, and Warsaw University of Technology. Prof. Heller is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Gold Cross of Merit, the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Order of the White Eagle, the “Plus ratio quam vis” Medal, the Award for Science Popularization from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Polish Press Agency for his lifetime achievements, and the Templeton Prize (worth $1.6 million), which he entirely donated to fund the Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, where he became the first director. He currently serves on the Copernicus Center Council appointed by the Rector of Jagiellonian University.
