Pope appoints Protestant as chief science adviser

Science : Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Swiss microbiologist Werner Arber as the new president of the Vatican’s scientific advisory body, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences . Arber, a Protestant, becomes the first non-Catholic to head the organization, which has roots dating back to the early 17th century. He succeeds Italian physicist Nicola Cabibbo, who died in August last year. Edwin Cartlidge, writing for Science, provides a brief biography of Arber.