13

Langdon enters Leonardo Vetra’s study and is startled by its strange mixture of religious and scientific objects: crucifixes, a Virgin Mary painting, a periodic table, an Einstein poster, a Bible, atom models, and books linking physics with God. The room suggests a deliberate fusion of two traditions Langdon has always understood as historically opposed.

Kohler explains that Vetra was not only a physicist but also a Catholic priest who called himself a theo-physicist. Vetra believed physics revealed God’s natural law and that recent particle-physics discoveries could prove spiritual truths, including a unifying force physically connecting all people. Kohler says Vetra’s work in “New Physics” had gained attention and could have brought millions toward spirituality.

Langdon briefly considers whether an anti-religious group like the Illuminati might have killed Vetra to stop his religiously charged scientific message, but he rejects the idea as impossible. Kohler adds that Vetra had enemies among scientific purists, including some at CERN, who saw his use of physics to support religion as a betrayal of science. Kohler argues that the conflict between science and religion remains active, though now fought through institutions and politics rather than open violence.

A message on Kohler’s beeper announces that Vetra’s daughter has arrived at the helipad. Kohler says they should meet her before she sees her father’s body, and he hopes she can explain the secret project she and Vetra had been working on. Kohler reveals that Vetra had recently become secretive, used a private lab, and consumed unusually large amounts of electricity.

Before leaving, Kohler tells Langdon that the murderer stole something from Vetra. Kohler leads Langdon back to the body and turns Vetra’s frozen head so Langdon can see the face. Langdon recoils in horror when he sees that one of Vetra’s eyes has been removed.