大师讲坛第041期

报告题目：Copernicus and Darwin: Two Scientific Revolutions
                     哥白尼和达尔文：二次科学革命

报告人：Francisco J. Ayala

报告时间：2014年4月28日上午9:30-11:00

报告地点：图书信息楼8楼多功能厅

报告摘要：
Darwin occupies an exalted place in the history of western thought, deservedly receiving credit for the theory of evolution. Darwin’s most important contribution to science is that he discovered natural selection, a process that accounts for the design of organisms. He completed the Copernican Revolution by bringing the diversity and wonderful adaptations of organisms into the realm of science: explanation by natural laws.
Natural selection accounts for the evolution of organisms and for their adaptive features; that is, their “design.” The design of organisms is not intelligent, as it would be expected from an engineer, but imperfect and worse: defects, dysfunctions, oddities, waste, and cruelty pervade the living world. Darwin’s theory of evolution accounts for the design and diversity of organisms as the result of the gradual accumulation of spontaneous mutations sorted out by natural selection. The theory of evolution conveys chance and necessity, randomness and determinism, jointly enmeshed in the stuff of life.
 

达尔文由于提出进化学说而在西方思想史上占有崇高的地位。达尔文在科学上最重要的贡献是发现了物种起源和演化的动力-自然选择。他把生物多样性和完美的适应性纳入科学王国，阐述了自然法则，完善了哥白尼的科学革命。
自然选择阐述了生物的进化和适应性，也可以称作“设计”。当然，这种设计不象工程师设计的那样完美，生物界存在缺陷、不协调、怪异、不经济，甚至在充满了残忍的生存搏斗。达尔文进化论解释了这种生物的设计和多样性形成，根源在于自然选择决定了那些日积月累的自然突变的去留。达尔文进化学说传递这样的信息：生命世界掺杂着偶然和必然、随机和决定。

报告人简介：

Francisco J. Ayala is University Professor and Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine.  On 12 June 2002, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Science at the White House. On May 5, 2010, he received the 2010 Templeton Prize for exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension from HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony in Buckingham Palace, London. From 1994 to 2001, Ayala was a member of President Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. He has been President and Chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993-1996), and President of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society of the U.S (2004-2005). Dr. Ayala is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and numerous foreign academies, and has received numerous prizes and honorary degrees. He has published more than 1,100 articles and is author or editor of 40 books.  Dr. Ayala has made significant and wide-ranging experimental and theoretical contributions to evolution theory. His scientific research focuses on population and evolutionary genetics, including the origin of species, the genetic diversity of populations, the origin of malaria, the population structure of parasitic protozoa, and the molecular clock of evolution.  He also writes about the interface between religion and science, and on philosophical issues concerning epistemology, ethics, education, and the philosophy of biology. He was a chief witness in the creationist trial in Arkansas in 1981 that prevented religion from being taught as science in the classroom. Dr. Ayala has been called the “Renaissance Man of Evolutionary Biology” by The New York Times.
 

Website: http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=2134
 

Francisco J. Ayala博士是美国加州大学尔湾分校（UCI）唐纳德布伦生态学与进化生物学教授。Ayala博士是美国国家科学院、美国科学艺术研究院、美国哲学学会的院士，获得了许多奖项和名誉学位，出版了1100余篇研究论文和40部著作。2002年6月12日，George W. Bush总统在白宫为他授予了国家科学奖章；2010年5月5日，由于他在人类生命精神维度方面的特殊贡献，爱丁堡公爵菲利普王子殿下在伦敦白金汉宫为他授予坦普顿奖；1994年至2001年间，他是克林顿总统“科学技术顾问委员会”的成员之一；1993年至1996年间，他担任美国科学促进协会的会长和董事会主席；2004年至2005年间担任美国希格玛西科学研究协会的会长。Ayala博士在人口和进化遗传学，包括物种起源、人口遗传多样性、疟疾起源、寄生原虫种群结构和进化分子钟等方面做出了卓越和广泛的理论贡献和实践贡献。他同时还进行宗教、自然科学、以及认识论、伦理、教育、生物哲学方面的研究。他是1982年美国阿肯色州创世论者审判中阻止把宗教作为自然科学进行授课的一个主要见证人。他被纽约时报称为“多才多艺的进化生物学者”。