US biologist wins Templeton Prize on religion and science

Thu, 25 Mar 2010

New York - An American biologist and former Roman Catholic priest on Thursday won the pricey 2010 Templeton Prize for advocating mutual respect but separation of religion from science.

Francisco J Ayala, a naturalized US citizen from Spain, specializes in research into parasitic protozoa that may lead to cures for malaria and other diseases.

The Templeton foundation announced the award for Ayala's 30-years of warning that both science and religion would be damaged if one field invades the other. He has called instead for mutual respect between the two.

Ayala, 76, a former Dominican priest, moved to New York in 1961 for graduate school and became a leader in molecular evolution and genetics. He is the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California at Irvine.

The annual Templeton Prize, established by the financier John Templeton, was valued at 1.53 million dollars this year. The prize honors individuals who make "exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension" in their daily life and professions.

Britain's Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will award the prize at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace on May 5.

Ayala said in prepared statement for the prize's announcement that science does not contradict religion.

"If they are properly understood," he said, "they cannot be in contradiction because science and religion concern different matters, and each is essential to human understanding."

He referred to Picasso's Guernica mural, saying that only a person with a spiritual view could impart the horror of the meanings in the masterpiece painting while dealing with its massive dimensions and pigments.

The Templeton Prize officials said: "Ayala's clear voice in matters of science and faith echoes the foundation's belief that evolution of the mind and truly open-minded inquiry can lead to real spiritual progress in the world."

In his opposition to religious intrusion into science, Ayala served as an expert witness in 1981 in a pivotal case. The US Federal Court ruled against a law mandating the teaching of creationism alongside of evolution in schools in the state of Arkansas. Ayala was awarded the National Medal of Science from US President George W Bush in 2001.

Ayala served in President Bill Clinton's presidential Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology in 1994 and as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) from 1993 to 1996. He is a also member of the National Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the scientific academies of, among others, Spain, Russia, Italy, Mexico and Serbia.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315808,us-biologist-wins-templeton-prize-on-religion-and-science.html.