Francisco J. Ayala
Encyclopedia
Francisco José Ayala Pereda (born March 12, 1934) is a Spanish
-American
biologist and philosopher at the University of California, Irvine
. He is a former Dominican
priest, ordained in 1960, but left the priesthood that same year. After graduating from the University of Salamanca
, he moved to the US in 1961 to study for a PhD at Columbia University
. There, he studied for his doctorate under Theodosius Dobzhansky
, graduating in 1964. He became a US citizen in 1971.
He has been President and Chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
. At University of California, Irvine, his academic appointments include University Professor
and Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (School of Biological Sciences), Professor of Philosophy, (School of Humanities), and Professor of Logic and the Philosophy of Science (School of Social Sciences).
of Evolutionary Biology". His "discoveries have opened up new approaches to the prevention and treatment of diseases that affect hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide", including demonstrating the reproduction of Trypanosoma cruzi
, the agent of Chagas disease
, is mostly the product of cloning, and that only a few clones account for most of this widespread, mostly untreatable South American disease that affects 16 million to 18 million people.
He has been publicly critical of U.S. restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell
research. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Campaign to Defend the Constitution
, an organization that has lobbied Congress to lift federal restrictions on funding embryonic stem cell research. He is also a critic of creationism
and intelligent design
theories, claiming that they are not only pseudoscience
, but also mistakes from theological
point of view. He suggests that the theory of evolution
resolves the problem of evil, thus being a kind of theodicy
. Ayala generally does not discuss his own religious opinions, though he did serve, in the 1960s, as a Dominican priest.
He attended the Beyond Belief
symposium on November 2006.
. On April 13, 2007, he was awarded the first of 100 bicentennial medals at Mount Saint Mary's University
for lecturing there as the first presenter for the Bicentennial Distinguished Lecture Series. His lecture was entitled "The Biological Foundations of Morality". Other awards he has received include the Gold Honorary Gregor Mendel Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Gold Medal of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Gold Medal of the Stazione Zoologica
in Naples, the President's Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences
, the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award and 150th Anniversary Leadership Medal of the AAAS, the Medal of the College of France, the UCI Medal of the University of California, the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award from the SACNAS, and Sigma Xi
's William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, 2000. In 2010, he was awarded the Templeton Prize
. The science library at UCI is named after him.
Ayala was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1977. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
and the American Philosophical Society
. He is also a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome, the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences
, the Mexican Academy of Sciences
, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
. He has honorary degrees from the University of Athens, the University of Bologna
, the University of Barcelona
, the University of the Balearic Islands
, the University of León, the University of Madrid
, the University of Salamanca
, the University of Valencia, the University of Vigo
, Far Eastern National University
, Masaryk University
and University of Warsaw
.
.
On October 18, 2011, it was announced that Professor Ayala would be donating $10 million of his own fortune to UCI's School of Biological Sciences. The gift will be "$1 million a year for the next decade."
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
biologist and philosopher at the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
. He is a former Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
priest, ordained in 1960, but left the priesthood that same year. After graduating from the University of Salamanca
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
, he moved to the US in 1961 to study for a PhD at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. There, he studied for his doctorate under Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky ForMemRS was a prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis...
, graduating in 1964. He became a US citizen in 1971.
He has been President and Chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
. At University of California, Irvine, his academic appointments include University Professor
University Professorship (University of California)
The title of University Professor at the University of California is "reserved for scholars of international distinction who are recognized and respected as teachers of exceptional ability". Unlike Distinguished Professorships which are campus specific, recommendations for University...
and Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (School of Biological Sciences), Professor of Philosophy, (School of Humanities), and Professor of Logic and the Philosophy of Science (School of Social Sciences).
Research and work
He is known for his research on population and evolutionary genetics, and has been called the "Renaissance ManPolymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
of Evolutionary Biology". His "discoveries have opened up new approaches to the prevention and treatment of diseases that affect hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide", including demonstrating the reproduction of Trypanosoma cruzi
Trypanosoma cruzi
Trypanosoma cruzi is a species of parasitic euglenoid trypanosomes. This species causes the trypanosomiasis diseases in humans and animals in America...
, the agent of Chagas disease
Chagas disease
Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius,...
, is mostly the product of cloning, and that only a few clones account for most of this widespread, mostly untreatable South American disease that affects 16 million to 18 million people.
He has been publicly critical of U.S. restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...
research. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Campaign to Defend the Constitution
Campaign to Defend the Constitution
Campaign to Defend the Constitution was an American online organization founded in September, 2005 to support the constitutional separation of church and state and to oppose what it perceived as the growing influence of the religious right. It was a project of the Tides Center, a non-profit...
, an organization that has lobbied Congress to lift federal restrictions on funding embryonic stem cell research. He is also a critic of creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
and intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
theories, claiming that they are not only pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
, but also mistakes from theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
point of view. He suggests that the theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
resolves the problem of evil, thus being a kind of theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
. Ayala generally does not discuss his own religious opinions, though he did serve, in the 1960s, as a Dominican priest.
He attended the Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival
Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival, the first of The Science Network's annual Beyond Belief symposia, held from November 5 to November 7, 2006, was described by the New York Times, as "a free-for-all on science and religion," which seemed at times like "the founding convention...
symposium on November 2006.
Awards and honors
In 2001, Ayala was awarded the National Medal of ScienceNational Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
. On April 13, 2007, he was awarded the first of 100 bicentennial medals at Mount Saint Mary's University
Mount Saint Mary's University
Mount St. Mary's University, also known as The Mount, is a private, liberal arts, Catholic university in the Catoctin Mountains near Emmitsburg, Maryland. It was founded by French émigré Father John DuBois in 1808 and is the oldest independent Catholic college in the United States...
for lecturing there as the first presenter for the Bicentennial Distinguished Lecture Series. His lecture was entitled "The Biological Foundations of Morality". Other awards he has received include the Gold Honorary Gregor Mendel Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Gold Medal of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Gold Medal of the Stazione Zoologica
Stazione Zoologica
The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn is a research institute in Naples, Italy, devoted to basic research in biology. Research is largely interdisciplinary involving the fields of evolution, biochemistry, molecular biology, neurobiology, cell biology, biological oceanography, marine botany, molecular...
in Naples, the President's Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Institute of Biological Sciences
The American Institute of Biological Sciences is a non-profit scientific association that is dedicated to advancing biological research and education.-Overview:...
, the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award and 150th Anniversary Leadership Medal of the AAAS, the Medal of the College of France, the UCI Medal of the University of California, the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award from the SACNAS, and Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
's William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, 2000. In 2010, he was awarded the Templeton Prize
Templeton Prize
The Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical...
. The science library at UCI is named after him.
Ayala was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1977. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
. He is also a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome, the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences
Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences
The Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences was founded in 1847.-History:...
, the Mexican Academy of Sciences
Mexican Academy of Sciences
The Mexican Academy of Sciences is a non-profit organization comprising over 1800 distinguished Mexican scientists, attached to various institutions in the country, as well as a number of eminent foreign colleagues, including various Nobel Prize winners...
, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
. He has honorary degrees from the University of Athens, the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, the University of Barcelona
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
, the University of the Balearic Islands
University of the Balearic Islands
The University of the Balearic Islands is a Balearic Spanish university, founded in 1978 and located in Palma on the island of Majorca.-History:...
, the University of León, the University of Madrid
University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a public university in Madrid, Spain, and one of the oldest universities in the world.The University of Madrid may also refer to:* The Autonomous University of Madrid, a public university founded in 1968...
, the University of Salamanca
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
, the University of Valencia, the University of Vigo
University of Vigo
The University of Vigo is a public university located in the city of Vigo, Galicia, Spain. There are three campuses:* Lagoas-Marcosende, between the municipalities of Vigo and Mos;* A Xunqueira, in Pontevedra;* As Lagoas, in Ourense;...
, Far Eastern National University
Far Eastern National University
Far Eastern Federal University is an institution of higher education located in Vladivostok, Russia. Established in 1899, the university was closed in the late 1930s under Joseph Stalin, and reopened in 1956, two years after Nikita Khrushchev visited Vladivostok...
, Masaryk University
Masaryk University
Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
and University of Warsaw
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...
.
Personal life
Francisco Ayala was born to Francisco Ayala and Soledad Pereda. In the late 1960s he met Mary Henderson, they married on May 27, 1968. They had two sons: Francisco José (b. 1969) and Carlos Alberto (b. 1972). Their marriage ended in divorce, and in 1985 he married an ecologist named Hana Ayala (née Lostakova). They live in Irvine, CaliforniaIrvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
.
On October 18, 2011, it was announced that Professor Ayala would be donating $10 million of his own fortune to UCI's School of Biological Sciences. The gift will be "$1 million a year for the next decade."
Books
Ayala has published 950 publications and 30 books. Recently published books include:- Ayala, F.J. Am I a Monkey: Six Big Questions About Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, MD, USA 2010.
- Ayala, F.J. and Robert ArpRobert ArpRobert Arp is a philosopher and ontologist, and is known for his work in ontology , philosophy of biology, evolutionary psychology, and philosophy and popular culture...
, eds. Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology. Wiley-Blackwell: London, 2009. ISBN 9781405159982
- Avise, J.C. and F.J. Ayala, eds. In the Light of Evolution: Adaptation and Complex Design. National Academy Press: Washington, DC. 2007. ISBN 9780309104050
- Cela Conde, C.J. and F.J. Ayala. Human Evolution. Trails from the Past. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2007.
- Ayala, F.J. Darwin y el Diseño Inteligente. Creacionismo, Cristianismo y Evolución. Alianza Editorial: Madrid, Spain, 231 pp. 2007.
- Ayala, F.J. Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion. Joseph Henry Press: Washington, DC, xi + 237 pp. 2007
- Ayala, F.J. La Evolución de un Evolucionista. Escritos Seleccionados. University of Valencia: Valencia, Spain, 441 pp. 2006. ISBN 8437065267
- Ayala, F.J. Darwin and Intelligent Design. Fortress Press: Minneapolis, MN, xi + 116 pp. 2006.
- Ayala, F.J. and C.J. Cela Conde. La piedra que se volvió palabra. Las claves evolutivas de la humanidad. Alianza Editorial: Madrid, Spain. 184 pp. 2006 ISBN 8420647837
- Hey, J., W.M. Fitch and F.J. Ayala, eds. Systematics and the Origin of Species. On Ernst Mayr’s 100th Anniversary. National Academies Press: Washington, DC. xiii + 367 pp. 2005 ISBN 0309095360
- Wuketits, F.M. and F.J. Ayala, eds. Handbook of Evolution: The Evolution of Living Systems (Including Hominids), Volume 2. Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, Germany. 292 pp. 2005. ISBN 9783527619719
- Ayala, F.J. Le Ragioni dell’ Evoluzione. Di Renzo Editore: Rome. 109 pp. 2005.
- Ayala, F.J. Human Evolution: Biology, Culture, Ethics. Pearson Education: Upper Saddle River, 2004.
External links
- Francisco J. Ayala at the University of California, IrvineUniversity of California, IrvineThe University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
- Francisco J. Ayala Biography
- Ayala FJ Author Profile Page on Pubget