A recent article in ScienceNews magazine (March 23, 2024) offers biographical highlights of this man’s life and career. As a youngster, Mtingwa thought he was “the second coming of Jesus Christ,” but learned in Sunday School that he was unwilling to die for others.¹ His name at that time was Michael von Sawyer and he was teased by early schoolmates as “a mad German scientist.”² From there, he began reading science books, eventually earning his PhD from Princeton University in “high-energy particle physics.”³

Though Mtingwa is a dedicated scientist, he is a spiritual man, a religious person. He said in 2020, “I had a very religious family; I go to church even today; I’m religious even today.”⁴ Mtingwa also says, “I realized I wasn’t Jesus Christ, but I was put on Earth to serve mankind.”⁵ Mtingwa has proved his service by helping others find their vocation in science.⁶ Sekazi Mtingwa is an individual who combines religion and science in his outlook, proving that conflict between science and religion doesn’t have to be.

Notes

1. Elise Cutts, ‘Apostle of Science: Accelerator Physicist Sekazi Mtingwa is a Mentor, Activist, Policy Expert and Humanitarian’ ScienceNews [Vol. 205 | No. 6], p. 18; read online, ScienceNews website
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., p. 19
4. Interview of Sekazi Mtingwa by David Zierler on March 27, 2020, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA; https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/44300
5. Cutts, art. cit., p. 20
6. Mtingwa was a college professor and also helped found organizations such as National Society of Hispanic Physicists; see, loc. cit.