Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins, in full clinton richard dawkins, (born March 26, 1941, Nairobo, kenya), British evolutionary biologist, ethologist, and popular science writer who emphasized the gene as driving force of evolution and generated significant controversy with his enthusiastic avocacy of atheism. Dwakins spent his early childhood in kenya, where his father was stationed during world war II. The family returned to england 1949. In 1959 dawkins entered Balliol college, oxford, where he received a bachelors degree in zoology in 1962. He remained at oxford, earning master’s and doctorate degrees in zoology in 1966 under famed ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. Dawkins assisted tinbergen before becoming an assistant professor of zoology (1967-69) at the university of california, Berkeley. He returned to oxford to lecture in zoology in 1970. Encylclopedia Britannica HomeQuizzes and GamesHistory and society science and Tech biographiesAnimals and NatureGeography and TravelArts and CultureMoneyVideos

Richard Dawkins

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Richard Dawkins

british biologist and writer

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Last Updated: June 21, 2023 Article History

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Richard Dawkins in full clinton Richard dawkins, (born march 26, 1941, Nairobi, Kenya), British evolutionary biologist, ethologist, and popular-science writer who emphasized the gene as the driving force of evolution and generated significant controversy with his enthusiastic advocacy of atheism.

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins

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category: Arts and culture

Born : March 26, 1941(age 82) Nairobi Kenya

Notable works : brief candle in the dark: My life in science an Appetite for wonder : the making of a scientist climbing mount improbable river out of eden the ancestors tale The blind watchmaker The evolution of life the extended phenotype the greatest show on earth: The evidence for evolution the magic of reality how we know what really true the selfish gene

subjects of study: evolution gene

Dawkins spent his early childhood in kenya, where his father was stationed during world war II. The family returned to england in 1949. In 1959 Dawkins entered balliol college, oxford , where he received a bachelor’s degree in zoology in 1962. He remained at oxford, earning master’s and doctorate degrees in zoology in 1966 under famed ethologist nikolaas Tinbergen. Dawkins assisted Tinbergen before becoming an assistant professor of zoology (1967-69) at the university of california, Berkeley. He returned to oxford to lecture in zoology in 1970.

Michael faraday (L) English physicist and chemist (electromagnetism) and john frederic daniell (R) British chemist and meterologist who invented the daniell cell.

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In 1976 he published his first book, The selfish gene, in which he tried to rectify what he mentioned was widespread misunderstanding of Darwinism. Dawkins argued that natural selection takes place at the genetic rathar than species or individual level, as was often assumed. Genes, he maintained, use the bodies of living things to further their own survival. He also introduced the concept of memes the cultural equivalent of genes. Ideas and concepts, from fashion to music, take on a life of their own within society and, by propagating and mutating from mind to mind, affect the progress of human evolution. Dawkins named the concept after the greek work mimeme, meaning to imitate It later spawned an entire field of study called memetics. The book was notable not just becuase of what it espoused but also because of its approachable style, which made it accessible to a popular audience.

Dawkins was named the first charles simonyi professor for the public understanding of science at oxford (1995-2008). In that capacity he continued to publish prolifically and produced and array of television programs. His 1996 documentary Break the science Barrier featured Dawkins conversing with an array of prominent scientists about their discoveries. In the volume Unweaving the rainbow(1998), Dawkins contended that evolutionary theory is aesthetically superior to supernatural explanations of the world. The ancestor’s tale 2004 structured after Geoffrey chaucer’s The canterbury tales, traces the human branch of the phylogentic tree back to points where it converages with the evolution of other species.Further publications included the greatest show on Earth: The evidence for evolution (2009), a tribute to, and vehement defense of, the theory of evolution by natural selection; The magic of reality: How we know what’s really true (2011), a book for young readers that juxtaposes the scientific understanding of various phenomena with mythologies that purport to explain them; outgrowing god: A beginners guide (2019) and the collection books do furnish a life Reading and writing science (2021). He also edited the oxford Book of modern science writing (2008).