(Relevant) U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins has won the prestigious Templeton Prize, one of the largest annual prizes awarded to an individual. Collins was recognized for his work bridging the perceived gulf between faith and science, and “harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.”
Collins became a Christian while in medical school and then received global acclaim in 2003 for leading the quest to complete the Human Genome Project. He became director of the NIH thereafter and has spent his career on the bleeding edge of both science and religion, insisting that the two are not in contention. His 2006 book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief argued that belief in God is a rational conclusion for any serious mind. He has urged faith communities to trust science and urged the science community to have more respect for people of faith.