Francisco J. Ayala

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Francisco J. Ayala

American geneticist and biologist

Also known as: Francisco José Ayala

Written by John P. Rafferty

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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In full:: Francisco José Ayala

Born:: March 12, 1934, Madrid, Spain

Died:: March 3, 2023, Newport Beach, California, U.S. (aged 88)

Awards And Honors:: Templeton Prize (2010); National Medal of Science (2002)

Notable Works:: “Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion”

Francisco J. Ayala (born March 12, 1934, Madrid, Spain—died March 3, 2023, Newport Beach, California, U.S.) was a Spanish-born American evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist best known for expounding the philosophical perspective that Darwinism and religious faith are compatible. Ayala was raised in Madrid by his parents, Francisco and Soledad Ayala. He received a B.S. in physics from the University of Madrid in 1955. Between 1955 and 1960, he studied theology at the Pontifical Faculty of San Esteban in Salamanca, where he was ordained a priest in the Dominican order in 1960. He left the priesthood the same year. Ayala ...(100 of 508 words)

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