Professor Norman Nevin OBE, president of the Centre for Intelligent Design (C4ID), died on June 28, 2014.
He was born in Belfast in 1935 and studied medicine at the Queen’s University of Belfast (QUB). After graduating in 1957, he took a series of appointments in the Royal Victoria Hospital and QUB. In 1965 he was appointed to a Medical Research Council Clinical Fellowship at the Clinical Genetics Research Unit at the Institute of Child Health in London and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Here he was to develop a lifelong interest and expertise in the field of genetics which was at that time a fledgling discipline.
His expertise and scholarship in genetics resulted in him serving on a number of national and international committees. These included the UK Government’s Gene Therapy Advisory Committee which he chaired from 1996 to 2006. In recognition of his work he was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for Services to Gene Therapy Research.
Arguing for design
Norman was a member, lay preacher and an elder at Crescent Church, Belfast and in recent years he supervised the extension of this church. He saw no conflict between his Christian faith and his scientific interests. He was prominent in arguing for design in nature from a scientific as well as from a philosophical perspective. It was courageous of a man of his standing to become publicly associated with the Intelligent Design movement, especially as he attracted the inevitable and personal criticism which comes to those who beg to differ with the scientific consensus on origins.
He was a giant in every field in which he engaged, yet remained humble, attentive and respectful to those with whom he came in contact. He was an accomplished writer, occasional broadcaster and committed church leader, but most of all a loving husband, father and grandfather. He is survived by his wife and school-time sweetheart, Jean, and by their family and grandchildren.
