O PRÉMIO TEMPLETON

O habitual destaque para a coluna de Bob Park "What's New", desta vez sobre o polémico Prémio Templeton que distingue quem aproxima ciência e religião (na foto Francisco Ayala, o último premiado Templeton):

"SIR JOHN TEMPLETON: THE MAN WHO TRIED TO BUY SCIENCE.

He was Born into a middle-class family in the Bible-belt town of  Winchester, TN. His parents, devout Presbyterians, emphasized the virtues  of thrift and piety.  Templeton learned both lessons so well that in 1968,  he renounced his US citizenship and moved to the Bahamas, becoming a  British citizen to avoid the US income tax.  Having become one of the  richest men in the world, he was knighted by the Queen.  While Templeton  may have genuinely believed the Christian myth, he also respected science.  Why shouldn't he?  After all, the scientific revolution led to the  fantastic growth in the world economy that made him a billionaire.  Believing that science and theology are two windows onto the same landscape, he set out to persuade scientists to delve into religion.  He went directly to the American Association for the Advancement of Science with an offer of $1 million to create the AAAS Dialogue between Science and Religion. Not everyone was happy about the AAAS selling part of its soul to  Templeton.  Two years ago Templeton died, but the monster he created carries on without him.

A BIGGER PRIZE: HOW MUCH WOULD IT TAKE TO BUY THE NAS?

Francisco Ayala, an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist at the  University of California, Berkeley was awarded the 2010 Templeton Prize in  a ceremony yesterday at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington DC. A genuinely good person, Ayala authored "On Being a Scientist," a NAS  pamphlet on scientific ethics that should be part of the education of every scientist.  Ayala is a staunch opponent of Intelligent Design.   The first recipient of the Templeton Prize was Mother Theresa in 1973; in 1982 it was Billy Graham, and in 1993 Charles Colson of Watergate fame, but his award was delayed until he got out of prison.  Most of the others who won the prize are not household names. In 1999, however, Templeton had an epiphany.  Every recipient since has been a scientist or philosopher, including one Nobel laureate, Charles Townes.  News accounts put the cash value of the Templeton prize at $1 million, but it’s now closer to $1.5 million, making it the largest cash prize for intellectual accomplishment in the world. The endowment for the prize stipulates that the cash value shall always be larger than the Nobel Prize.  It’s awarded annually for "spiritual progress."  How did the NAS get into this? Having once sought to buy the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Templeton foundation must have set its sights on a bigger prize."

Robert Park