Francisco José Ayala awarded an honorary doctorate by the UAB

Biologist Francisco José Ayala was awarded an honorary doctorate by the UAB in a ceremony which took place on 18 June at 12 noon at the conference hall of the Rectorate building. Dr Ayala, professor at the University of California, Irvine, received the 2010 Templeton Prize, is specialist in evolutionary biology, and is considered to be one of today's most outstanding Spanish scientists. He was proposed by the Faculty of Biosciences and his sponsors will be Dr Víctor Gómez Pin of the Department of Philosophy, and Antoni Fontdevila of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology.

After studying in Salamanca, he began his academic studies in the United States, where he has fully developed his career. His research has focused on the molecular clock of evolution, i.e., the study of protein sequences in order to reconstruct evolutionary history. His research group also studies the origin and evolution of introns, pseudogenes and ectopic expression, among other subjects. Additionally, Ayala has researched into the origin of malaria and other parasitic diseases and is specialist in the philosophy of biology, bioethics, the relation between science and religion, and the teaching of the evolutionary theory in schools. He has written over 1,000 articles in leading scientific journals and dozens of books. His latest one is entitled ¿De dónde vengo? ¿Quién soy? ¿A dónde voy? (Where do I come from? Who am I? Where am I going?) (Alianza Editorial, 2015).

The new honorary doctor has been member of some of the most important academies and scientific associations, such as the National Academy of Science, and he was also advisor to Bill Clinton. In 2014, Dr Ayala gave a conference on "¿Qué es el animal humano? Biología y cultura" (What Is the Human Animal? Biology and Culture) at the UAB Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, as part of the 11th International Conference on Ontology, coordinated by Víctor Gómez Pin, professor of the Department of Philosophy.