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Trotter Prize (Texas A&M)

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The Trotter Prize (named after Dr. Ide P. Trotter Sr., former dean of the Texas A&M Graduate School.) is awarded at Texas A&M University and is part of an endowed lecture series. It is awarded "for pioneering contributions to the understanding of the role of information, complexity and inference in illuminating the mechanisms and wonder of nature" and includes The Trotter Lecture which "seeks to reveal connections between science and religion, often viewed in academia as non-overlapping, if not rival, worldviews.

Previous winners

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Nobel Prize winners Charles Hard Townes and Francis Crick received the inaugural award at A&M's Rudder Theater in 2002. Townes spoke about connections between science and faith.[1] Promoter of the notion of intelligent design William A. Dembski[2] shared the award in 2005 with theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman.[3] Simon Conway Morris received the award and spoke in 2007.[4][5] Francis Collins, the director of the human genome project, and Steven Weinberg, a Nobel Prize recipient for physics, shared the Trotter Prize in 2008 and discussed the interplay between science and religion.[6] Astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich also won the prize.[7]

Robert L. Park has criticized the award for being given to William A. Dembski, a proponent of the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design, saying it is given out for "overlapping the magisteria" (a comment based on Stephen Jay Gould's concept of non-overlapping magisteria, NOMA, the idea that science and religion inherently do not overlap).[8]

Honorees/ speakers

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References

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  1. ^ Elizabeth Kline Nobel Prize winner stresses faith in science to Texas A&M students[dead link] University Wire Article February 26, 2002
  2. ^ Gross PF; Forrest BF (2004). Creationism's Trojan horse: the wedge of intelligent design. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515742-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Campus Briefs - Scientists to explore life's origins Monday". The Battalion. 2005-03-31. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  4. ^ Matthew Waller Darwin expert comes to Baylor U.[dead link] University Wire Article April 24, 2007 "Morris lectured Monday at Texas A&M University as part of the reception of the Trotter Prize whose recipients have included Nobel Prizewinning scientists"
  5. ^ [1]. Christian Post.
  6. ^ Nathan Ball Science versus religion Archived 2013-02-03 at archive.today; Lecture series invitees discuss implications for scientific progress to support or suppress faith Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 The Battalion
  7. ^ Noted astronomy professor and researcher to speak at Bethel College. Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine December 1, 2008. The Kansan/
  8. ^ Park, RL (2005-04-08). "Trotter Prize: an award for overlapping the magisteria" (PDF). Free Inquiry Group. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
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