Ayala was previously president and chairman of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[5] At University of California, Irvine, his academic appointments included 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).[6]
Ayala's employment at UC Irvine ended in 2018 after the university issued a report relating to allegations of sexual harassment claims against him.[7] Ayala denied having "intentionally caused sexual harassment to anybody."[7] His name was removed from the School of Biological Sciences, the Science Library, as well as various graduate fellowships, scholarship programs, and endowed chairs.[8]
Ayala is known for his research on population and evolutionary genetics, and has been called the "Renaissance Man of Evolutionary Biology".[13] His "discoveries have opened up new approaches to the prevention and treatment of diseases that affect hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide", including demonstrating that 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 disease.[14]
Ayala served on the advisory board of the now defunct Campaign to Defend the Constitution, an organization that has lobbied in support of the separation of church and state. He has been publicly critical of U.S. restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He was also a critic of intelligent design theories, claiming that they are not only pseudoscience, but also misunderstood from a theological point of view. He suggested that the theory of evolution resolves the problem of evil, thus being a kind of theodicy.[15][16][17] Although Ayala generally did not discuss his religious views, he has stated that "science is compatible with religious faith in a personal, omnipotent and benevolent God."[18] He also briefly served, in 1960, as a Dominican priest.[19] Ayala did not say whether he remained a religious believer, not wanting to be "tagged by one side or the other."[20]
On October 18, 2011, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) announced that Ayala would be donating $10 million to the university's School of Biological Sciences. The gift was to be "$1 million a year for the next decade."[22]
Four women (professor Kathleen Treseder, another professor, an assistant dean, and one graduate student),[23] alleged that Ayala had sexually harassed them, prompting an investigation led by Erik Pelowitz at UC Irvine's Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.[7] The university investigators concluded that Ayala violated the university's policies on sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the cases of three of the four women,[7] and found that the conduct at issue extended to 2004 and had led to previous warnings to Ayala.[7] The investigators' report also concluded that Ayala "engaged in a campaign with the highest University officials to influence the outcome of this investigation."[7] Ayala denied most allegations against him, and wrote to the university's chancellor, Howard Gillman, "I have never intentionally caused sexual harassment to anybody. To the extent that my actions may have caused harm to others ... I apologize from the deepest of my heart and of my mind."[7] He resigned effective July 1, 2018.[23]
Ayala was represented in the investigation by attorney Susan Estrich.[23] The investigation against Ayala extended to more than 60 witnesses,[23] and the outcome divided scholars.[7][23]Camilo José Cela Conde[23] and Elizabeth Loftus defended him, the latter saying that she was "shocked that this man's life was ruined over this collection of reactions to his behavior" and described the allegations as "thin."[7] In contrast, T. Jane Zelikova, the founder of 500 Women Scientists, supported Ayala's ouster.[7]Ann Olivarius, a lawyer and sexual harassment expert who reviewed the report at the request of Science magazine, said that Ayala did not "have sex with students or pressure them directly for sex" but "clearly made multiple women feel degraded" and continued to do so "after senior university officials warned him to stop acting in these ways."[7]
Ayala returned to his private life, and the university removed his name from the School of Biological Sciences, the Science Library, and endowed chairs that had been named after Ayala.[8][2] The American Association for the Advancement of Science removed his fellowship status.[24] The U.S. National Academy of Sciences rescinded Ayala's membership for violation of Section 4 of the NAS Code of Conduct, effective June 23, 2021.[25]
In 2001, Ayala was awarded the National Medal of Science.[14] 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 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 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility[26] 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.[27] The science library at UCI was named after him from 2010 until 2018, when his name was removed after a university investigation concluded that his conduct with respect to three women violated university policies.[7][28][2] Ayala delivered a lecture at the Trotter Prize ceremony in 2011 entitled "Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion." In 2014, UCI named its School of Biological Sciences the Francisco J. Ayala School of Biological Sciences after Ayala.[29] UCI removed his name from the library and school in 2018, after finding that he sexually harassed at least four women.[2]
Francisco Ayala was born to Francisco Ayala and Soledad Pereda. In the late 1960s he met Mary Henderson, they married on May 27, 1968.[31] They had two sons: Francisco José (born 1969) and Carlos Alberto (born 1972).[32] Their marriage ended in divorce,[33] and in 1985 he married an ecologist named Hana Ayala (née Lostáková, born 1956).[34][35] They lived in Irvine, California. He died from a heart attack on March 3, 2023, in Newport Beach, at age 88.[36][37]
Ayala has published 950 publications and 30 books. Recently published books include:
Ayala, F.J. Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics: Towards a Philosophy of Biology. Academic Press: 2016. ISBN9780128036938
Ayala, F.J. Am I a Monkey: Six Big Questions About Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, MD, US 2010.
Ayala, F.J. and Robert Arp, eds. Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology. Wiley-Blackwell: London, 2009. ISBN978-1-4051-5998-2
Avise, J.C. and F.J. Ayala, eds. In the Light of Evolution: Adaptation and Complex Design. National Academy Press: Washington, DC. 2007. ISBN978-0-309-10405-0
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. ISBN84-370-6526-7
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 ISBN84-206-4783-7
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 ISBN0-309-09536-0
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. ISBN978-3-527-61971-9
Ayala, F.J. Le Ragioni dell’ Evoluzione. Di Renzo Editore: Rome. 109 pp. 2005.
Ayala, F.J. Human Evolution: Biology, Culture, Ethics. In: J.B. Miller, ed., The Epic of Evolution. Science and Religion in Dialogue (Pearson Education, Inc.: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey), pp. 166–180. 2004.
^Ayala, F. J. (2007). Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. p. xi. I shudder in terror at the thought that some people of faith would implicitly attribute this calamity to the Creator's faulty design. I rather see it as a consequence of the clumsy ways of the evolutionary process..
^Ayala, F. J. (2007). Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. pp. 4–5. Later, when I was studying the theology in Salamanca, Darwin was a much-welcomed friend. The theory of evolution provided the solution to the remaining component of the problem of evil. As floods and drought were a necessary consequence of the fabric of the physical world, predators and parasites, dysfunctions and diseases were a consequence of the evolution of life. They were not a result of a deficient or malevolent design: the features of organisms were not designed by the Creator.
^Ayala, F. J. (2007). Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. p. 159. Religious scholars in the past had struggled with imperfection ... in the living world, which [is] difficult to explain if [it is] the outcome of God's design. ... Evolution came to the rescue. ... The theory of evolution, which at first had seemed to remove the need for God in the world, now has convincingly removed the need to explain the world's imperfections as failed outcomes of God's design.
^Ruse, Michael. Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? : The Relationship between Science and Religion. Cambridge University Press: New York, xi + 242 pp. 2001, p. 75
^Dean, Cornelia (April 29, 2008). "Roving Defender of Evolution". New York Times. Dr. Ayala does not say whether he remains a religious believer. "I don't want to be tagged," he said. "By one side or the other."
