By Paul Totah
For Father Eric Watson, SJ, the magic lies in making connections.
That’s true of his role as associate professor of chemistry at Seattle University, where, according to online reviews, his students call him “really chill” and a “funny, engaging lecturer” who is “accessible and helpful outside of class.”
It’s also true of his research, which involves the study of organometallic compounds, which combine carbon atoms—the building blocks of life—with metallic atoms.
Fr. Watson, who holds a doctoral degree in chemistry, also makes connections between faith and reason, the scientific and the aesthetic, and the theoretical and the practical.
Born in the Midwest in 1966, Fr. Watson moved with his family first to Southern California when he was 3 and then to Oregon after his freshman year of high school.
In Southern California, he distinguished himself as a soccer player but discovered that his new school in Oregon had no soccer team. “I had to find ways to reinvent myself,” he recalled. “Part of that involved developing my Catholic faith and wondering if I was being called to the priesthood. I admired the priest who taught my catechism class, which was held in his library, and I admired how well read he was. I was surprised, as I had a naïve view of what being a priest could be.”
After two years at the University of Portland, Fr. Watson opted to take a break from studies to explore Europe for nearly a year. He attended a few other schools, but while traveling to Alaska one summer to earn some money, he took a job in Sitka, where he worked as a chemist at a paper and pulp mill while living on a 29-foot sloop he had purchased.
When the mill closed, he went back to Europe and ventured into the Middle East for more travels before finishing his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oregon State University. “Sitka taught me that I loved chemistry, and my time at Oregon State confirmed that. I loved the orderly beauty of chemistry, which is most evident in the periodic table, where elements line up with certain characteristics as you go from left to right and from top to bottom. It was a revelation to see how reasonable nature was, and I found that exciting.”
At Oregon State, he also ventured into original research in the creation of compounds “that in 14 billion years had never before existed. That was beyond exciting for me, especially to see the beauty of nature combine with the thrill of discovery. I also learned to persevere when my research became challenging.”
At Brown University, he earned his doctoral degree in organometallic chemistry and once again explored his call to the priesthood. “I needed to know that my twin passions—for Christ and for chemistry—could coexist. This was also the perfect time to test myself to see if I had a vocation. If my call didn’t prove to be true, then I would get on with life and get married. I began shopping around for teaching orders to join, and that’s when I landed upon the Jesuits. The charism and spirituality of the order also resonated with me in a deep way, and I did come to see how being a priest and a scientist could converge and be in harmony.”
Part of his time in formation as a Jesuit involved working in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, where he helped poor residents who owned forested land in Appalachia. Father Al Fritsch, SJ, a Jesuit chemist, helped them by advising them to grow ginseng, “which needs a forest canopy to grow. My job was to test the ginseng to detect and measure the chemical compounds that, according to studies, benefit our health.”
Fr. Watson also tutored high school students on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. “Just like my work in Appalachia, this was a great way to affirm my call to the priesthood while using my abilities as a chemist. Tutoring students in chemistry and serving as a Jesuit informed and enriched the other. I was a better teacher because I was a Jesuit.”
Both science and faith, he added “are ways of seeking truth. The scientist asks how something happens and the person of faith asks why. Both advance our understanding of what it means to be human.”
He continued his Jesuit formation in Chicago and Toronto, and postdoctoral studies took him to the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (known as ETH-Zurich) and to the University of Washington.
Following his ordination in 2009 in Spokane, Washington, he joined the faculty at Seattle University, where he had the luxury of teaching classes of 20 to 30 students rather than hundreds in a huge lecture hall. “These are dedicated young people who want to succeed, and I’m fortunate to be able to help them, especially those who might be anxious about engaging in a difficult course.”
As part of his original research, he explores the preparation, characterization and reactivity study of original triple-layer bimetallic complexes. This synthesis of organic carbon and metallic atoms creates new molecules “that have some interesting optical and electrochemical properties. In the drive to make atomic-level microelectronics, the molecules we make in our lab offer possible ways to create even smaller wires and switches.”
These new molecules, he added, “are also quite beautiful, both in their symmetry and in their colors. Aside from their practical applications, they have intrinsic value, as they combine both originality and beauty.”
Fr. Watson finds great joy in responding to his three calls: being a teacher, doing original research and being a priest. “A good day is when I teach chemistry in the morning, celebrate Mass in the afternoon in the St. Ignatius Chapel and then work on research later in the day. This never feels strained. Instead, I find a deep harmony, where my faith life enriches and informs these other two aspects of who I am. This is a real grace, and, just like the molecules that combine in original ways, I find that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
