Richard Dawkins
From EvoWiki
Contents |
Biography
Clinton Richard Dawkins is a zoologist (specialising in animal ethology) at Oxford University, England, where he is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science. He was born in Nairobi in 1941.
He is known for popularising the Selfish gene theory, and the idea of a gene as a unit of selection. He has also developed the sociobiological idea of memetics. He is also a prominent atheist and proponent of Anti-religion.
Dawkins was ranked the 186th most powerful person in Britain by The Guardian in 2000 [1]. He was also voted the most influential intellectual in Britain by Prospect magazine in 2004.
An incident well-known in Creationist circles occurred when a Creationist film team tricked him into giving an interview, then at one point asked him about the information content in the genome. Realising that he had been duped, he refused to answer; this (non-)response was then taken as revealing that the question could not be answered. Dawkins has since responded in an essay, The 'Information Challenge', available in his book A Devil's Chaplain and online. [2] See Dawkins could not give an example of increasing information.
See also: Richard Dawkins/Quotes
Popular science books
- The Selfish Gene (1976; second edition, 1989)
- The Extended Phenotype (1982)
- The Blind Watchmaker (1986)
- River out of Eden (1995)
- Climbing Mount Improbable (1996)
- Unweaving the Rainbow (1998)
- A Devil's Chaplain (2003)
- The Ancestor's Tale (2004)
- The God Delusion (2006)
External Links
Online Articles
Evolution
- 2000, How do you wear your genes?, re: genetic determinism and gene selectionism, in The Evening Standard [3]
Other science
- 1999, An eclipse? It's my kind of magic, in The Sunday Times [4]
- 1999, Snake Oil and Holy Water, re: religion and pseudo-science, in Forbed ASAP, [5]
- 2000, Don't turn your back on science, re: Prince Charles' distrust of science, in The Observer [6]
- 2000, They were wrong, re: anti-GM protests, in The Observer [7]
Creationism
- 2005, One side can be wrong. Accepting 'intelligent design' in science classrooms would have disastrous consequences, warn Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne; in the Guardian [8]
- 2002, A scientist's view, re: the rise of creationism in the UK, in The Guardian [9]; replies: [10]
- 2002, Young Earth Creationists teach bad science and worse religion, re: Emmanuel College, in The Daily Telegraph [11]
Atheism
- 2003, The Future Looks Bright, re: the use of the word "bright" as a synonym for atheist, in The Guardian [12]
- 2006, The God Delusion
Religion
- 2001, Religion's misguided missiles, re: the september 11, 2001 attacks on New York, in The Guardian [13]; replies: [14]
- 2001, Children must choose their own beliefs, a letter to Estelle Morris (the then education secretary), in The Guardian [15]
Misc
- 2000, W.D. Hamilton obituary, in The Independent [16]
- 2000, Admit you're wrong, Gorden Brown, re: accusations that Oxford University has an unfair admissions policy, in The Observer [17]
- 2001, Lament for Douglas Adams, in The Observer [18]
- 2003, Bin Laden's Victory, re: the US political system, in The Guardian [19]
- 2003, Dear Mr Bush, a letter to George W. Bush re: the second Gulf war.
- 2003, Dodgy frontal lobes, y'dig?, re: lowering the voting age, with R. Elisabeth Cornwell, in The Guardian [20]
- 2004, Apple of my eye, re: Apple Macs, in The Guardian [21]
