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The Language of God
The nation’s leading geneticist finds evidence for God in our genes and our moral nature.
A lecture by Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health
Date: Thursday, March 8, 2007
Time: 7 p.m.
School of Business Auditorium, 1015 Floyd Avenue
In his recent highly acclaimed book of this same title, Dr. Francis Collins explores the tension between science and religion in general, and between faith and empiricism in particular. Describing the achievements of the Human Genome Project he says, “The experience of sequencing the human genome, and uncovering this most remarkable of all texts, was both a stunning scientific achievement and an occasion of worship.” Making his own case for how one can be a leading scientist and a believer at the same time, Collins draws on his life’s work in science to give us a new assessment of the ways in which science and religion are compatible and incompatible today. As one of the world’s foremost genetic scientists, Collins puts his scientific credibility on the line with an honest and highly personal account of his faith and his work.
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Meet Francis S. Collins
Francis S. Collins is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health. He led the successful effort to complete the Human Genome Project, a complex multidisciplinary scientific enterprise directed at mapping and sequencing the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. A working draft of the human genome sequence was announced in June 2000, an initial analysis was published in February 2001 and a high-quality reference sequence was completed in April 2003. From the outset, the project ran ahead of schedule and under budget, and all the data are now available to the scientific community without restrictions on access or use.
Collins received a B.S. from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University and an M.D. from the University of North Carolina. Following a fellowship in human genetics at Yale, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he remained until moving to NIH in 1993. His research has led to the identification of genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington’s disease and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.
Collins’ recent book, “The Language of God: A scientist presents evidence for belief” (2006), describes his perspective on the roles of science and religion in his own life and his prescription for the boundaries of science and religion for society.
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