Biologist Francisco José Ayala (Madrid, March 12, 1934) died in California (USA) shortly before his 89th birthday. His career has focused on evolutionary and population genetics, as well as investigating the microorganisms behind various parasitic diseases.
He studied in Salamanca and was ordained a Dominican priest in 1960, but soon abandoned the habit and moved to the United States the following year, where he received his doctorate at Columbia University under the supervision of Theodosius Dobzhansky –another prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist– in 1964 He later transferred to the University of California at Davis in 1971, when he became a US citizen, although he also retained Spanish nationality.
Ayala was a prestigious evolutionary biologist specializing in genetics, also for his research on the parasites of Chagas disease and malaria.
In 1987 he went to the University of California at Irvine, where he did research and taught biology. Ayala is known for his studies on the molecular clock (a technique for estimating the time lapse between evolutionary events), as well as for his research on the reproduction of Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, and on the evolution of the Plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria, a disease that affects millions of people.
Ayala was also known for dealing with issues related to genetics, philosophy and bioethics, in addition to remorselessly addressing the relationship between science and religion, a subject he discussed with SINC on some of his frequent trips to Spain to receive awards and give lectures.
Ayala’s death “was a loss to science and to the world,” said theoretical physicist Lawrence Maxwell Krauss in his Networkwhere he also highlights that he had “a remarkable fusion of different experiences”.
“A former Catholic priest, he became one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists, proving that belief in God does not mean renouncing Darwinian evolution as an explanation for the diversity of species on Earth. In fact -he adds-, as he himself would have said, the only religious belief consistent with our knowledge of the world is the one in which evolution is recognized as a central piece of our understanding of life.
Ayala showed that believing in God does not imply renouncing Darwinian evolution as an explanation for the diversity of species on Earth.
Lawrence M. Krauss
The late geneticist became, among others, a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, scientific adviser to President Bill Clinton and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAA), which publishes Science magazine. He was also named honorary doctor at universities in several countries.
He has published over 40 books and written over a thousand scientific articles. He holds the US National Medal of Science and has received numerous international awards, including the Templeton Prize in 2010, endowed with one million British pounds he donated to his university.
Ayala was also known for its vast expanses of vineyards in California. In 2011, he donated $10 million of his winemaking profits to the University of California, Irvine Medical School.
Complaints of sexual harassment
But his reputation crumbled after allegations of sexual harassment made by four women. An internal investigation launched in November 2017 into these allegations against him was concluded after hearing more than 60 witnesses from the institution.
On June 29, 2018, it was announced the loss of all its positions and recognitions at the University of California at Irvine, which decided to withdraw its name from the Faculty of Biological Sciences and the Central Library of Sciences. Ayala argued that his behaviors were European chivalrous manners. Finally, the American National Academy of Sciences ended up expelling him in 2021 for violating its code of conduct.
