The Templeton Prize, granted by the Templeton Foundation for “progress toward research of discoveries about spiritual realities” was awarded to Michael Heller, Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest that has been trying for over 40 years to explain the origins of the Universe through innovative theories and concepts.

The award valued at approximately $1.6 million and with over four decades of history, was announced at a news conference at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York. The Templeton Foundation is giving away the largest monetary award in the world granted to one individual.

Michael Heller, aged 72, is currently a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical Academy of theology in Cracow, and was one of late Pope John Paul II’s friends. The foundation motivated its choice as follows:

Heller “has become a compelling figure in the realms of physics and cosmology, theology, and philosophy … Heller’s extensive writings have  evoked new and important consideration of some of humankind’s most profound concepts.”

The Polish professor has been working on answering fundamental questions such as “Does the universe need to have a cause?” by combining elements from multiple scientific fields (mathematics, philosophy, cosmology and theology), allowing all of them to be a part of the solution, rather than contradict each other.

At the news conference, Heller resumed his work in a few words: “… dynamical laws are expressed in the form of mathematical equations, and if we ask about the cause of the universe, we should ask about a cause of mathematical laws. By doing so we are back in the Great Blueprint of God’s thinking the universe, the question on ultimate causality…: “Why is there something rather than nothing?” When asking this question, we are not asking about a cause like all other causes. We are asking about the root of all possible causes.”