Peacocke, 76, specialized in biological macromolecules early in his career and made significant contributions to scientists´ understanding of the structure of DNA. He has spent the past 25 years exploring the relationship between science and theology.
«The search for intelligibility that characterizes science and the search for meaning that characterizes religion are two necessary intertwined strands of the human enterprise and are not opposed,´´ Peacocke said in a statement. «They are essential to each other, complementary yet distinct and strongly interacting — indeed just like the two helical strands of DNA itself.´´
Peacocke, though an agnostic in his youth, became a lay reader in the Anglican Church in 1961 and an ordained priest in 1971.
That same year he published «Science and the Christian Experiment,´´ which examined the parallels between the scientific and theological quests. He founded the United Kingdom Science and Religion Forum in 1972, AP said.
In 1984 Peacocke established the Ian Ramsey Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religious Beliefs in Relation to the Sciences. His books and articles include «From DNA to Dean,´´ «God and Science: A Quest for Christian Credibility´´ and the forthcoming «Paths from Science Toward God: The End of All Our Exploring.´´
The interfaith religion prize was established in 1972 by mutual funds entrepreneur John M. Templeton to highlight a field omitted by the Nobel prizes. Past winners include Mother Teresa and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
