Richard Dawkins

For the archaeologist, see Richard MacGillivray Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins
FRS FRSL
Dawkins in 2022
Born
Clinton Richard Dawkins

(1941-03-26) 26 March 1941 (age 83)
Nairobi, British Kenya
EducationOundle School
Balliol College, Oxford (MA, DPhil)
Known for
Spouses
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    (m. 1967; div. 1984)​
  • Eve Barham
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    (m. 1984, divorced)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1992; div. 2016)​
Children1
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsEvolutionary biology
Institutions
ThesisSelective pecking in the domestic chick (1967)
Doctoral advisorNikolaas Tinbergen
Richard Dawkins introduces himself. (Recorded November 2016.)
Websitericharddawkins.com
Signature

Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (born 26 March 1941)[3] is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author.[4] He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. His book The Selfish Gene (1976) popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and coined the word meme. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards.[5]

Dawkins is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design as well as for being a vocal atheist.[6] Some fellow academics have described Dawkins as a secular or atheist fundamentalist.[7][8][9] Dawkins wrote The Blind Watchmaker in 1986, arguing against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any sentient designer. In 2006, Dawkins published The God Delusion, writing that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. He founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science in 2006.[10][11] Dawkins has published two volumes of memoirs, An Appetite for Wonder (2013) and Brief Candle in the Dark (2015).

  1. ^ "Richard Dawkins". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  2. ^ Taylor, James E. "The New Atheists". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  3. ^ Tortoise (2 December 2019). OMG – A ThinkIn with Richard Dawkins. YouTube. Event occurs at 2:08. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. ^ Holt, T. "Richard Dawkins". Philosophy of Religion.
  5. ^ Fahy, Declan (2015). The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and into the Limelight. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
  6. ^ "British scientists don't like Richard Dawkins, finds study that didn't even ask questions about Richard Dawkins". Independent.co.uk. 18 January 2017. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  7. ^ Laing, Peter (28 December 2012). "An embarrassing fundamentalist – Peter Higgs' scathing verdict on Richard Dawkins". The Scotsman. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  8. ^ Kitcher, Philip (2011). "Militant Modern Atheism". Journal of Applied Philosophy. 28 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5930.2010.00500.x. JSTOR 24356137.
  9. ^ Watson, Simon (2010). "Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and Atheist Fundamentalism". Anthropoetics. 15 (2).
  10. ^ Elmhirst, Sophie (9 June 2015). "Is Richard Dawkins destroying his reputation?". The Guardian.(Op-ed)
  11. ^ "Richard Dawkins on Charles Darwin". BBC News. 14 February 2009.