Richard Dawkins

Clinton Richard Dawkins (Nairobi, 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer.

Dawkins is one of the best-known writers on the theory of evolution. He defends this theory on enthusiastic manner with scientific arguments against criticism from both scientific and non-scientific angle.

He is an outspoken atheist, secular humanist, skeptic and supporter of the brights movement.



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[hide] *1 background, education and relations  ==Background, education and relations[ Edit] == Lived up to its eighth Dawkins in Kenya, where his parents had a farm . Then they moved to England. Dawkins was raised Anglican but said the Christian faith during his teen years goodbye because he felt that the theory of evolution would explain life adequately without the necessity of a divine intervention.
 * 2 contributions to the theory of evolution
 * 3 Atheism
 * 4 private life
 * 5 Bibliography
 * 6 Documentaries and debates
 * 7 external links

He studied zoology at the University of Oxford, where he was taught by the Dutch ethologist and zoologist and Nobel Laureate Niko Tinbergen. Dawkins obtained variousacademic degrees and scientific promotions.

From 1967 to 1969 he was assisting Professor in zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 1970 he has been working as a zoologist at the University of Oxford, first as a lecturer, from 1990 to 1995 as a reader (a British academic rank between that of lecturer and Professor in) and from 1995 to 2008 as Simonyi Professorship for the Public understanding of Science. Last connection was made possible by the Hong Creole-American computer scientist, softwareentrepreneur andspace tourist Charles Simonyi, with the express intention that Dawkins would go first to fulfill this. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society (limb of the British Academy of natural sciences). In 2005 he received an honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In 2009, an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp at. ==Contributions to the theory of evolution[ Edit] == Dawkins is best known for his book The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he argued for the genselectietheorie, as formulated by, among others, William Donald Hamilton andJohn Maynard Smith, and if first introduced the concept in the theory of evolution meme .

Dawkins published In 1982 The Extended Phenotype, in which he formulates that the effect of genes is not limited to the synthesis of proteins, but also any influence of the gene on the environment involves. The Central theorem of The Extended Phenotype is that the behavior of an animal the survival of the genes responsible for that behavior now, promotes or those genes are present in that animal, or not. So, for example, the behavior of a host can be modified by genes that are only present in the parasite, in favor of those parasitic genes. The concept of the extended phenotype is considered as Dawkins ' most important contribution to the theory of evolution.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Dawkins made further name as an author of many books on evolution, including The Blind Watchmaker (1986); in which he explains how a large number of small genetic mutations may give rise to complex organisms, The ancestor's Tale (2004) that the phylogenetic family tree follows until the beginning of the creation of life and The Greatest Show on Earth (2009) that, in reaction to creationism, gives a summary of all the evidence for the theory of evolution. ==Atheism<span class="mw-editsection" len="330" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">His views about the theory of evolution brought him often argue with creationists and proponents of Intelligent Design. His book The God Delusion (2006) can be seen as his reckoning with those beliefs, in which are based on the belief in a creation by a supernatural God.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In addition to his publications, he is a frequent speaker and has made a large number of television programmes, such as the documentary The Root of all Evil?, The Enemies of Reason and The Genius of Charles Darwin for the British Channel 4. He is also co-founder of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. In 2004 he was one of the six persons who interview a full broadcast was dedicated in thedocumentary series The Atheism Tapes of the BBC. Dawkins is an honorary member of the National Secular Society.

<p lang="en" len="291" style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">He was friends with the writer Douglas Adams, who, like him, was a convinced atheist and spoke at his funeral.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In an article In The Times criticized the English journalist and historian John Cornwell Dawkins and in particular his book The God Delusion. The tone of the book described Cornwell as "extremist and dogmatic"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" len="167" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1] .Cornwell also later repeated his criticism in The Guardian <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" len="167" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  and in his book Darwin's Angel (2007).

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2007, Dawkins public debate with the British theologian Alister McGrath following his critical book ''Dawkins ' God. About genes, memes and the meaning of life''.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" len="167" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"> [3] ==Private Life<span class="mw-editsection" len="332" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Dawkins was married three times and has a daughter. In 1967, he married fellow behavioral biologist Marian Stamp. They divorced in 1984. On 1 June of that year he married Eve Barham, in Oxford with their daughter Juliet Emma Dawkins was also born in 1984. After the separation of Barham, he married actress Lalla Ward in 1992 with whom he had met through their mutual friend Douglas Adams. Ward illustrated and contributed to audio versions of some of his books. ==Bibliography<span class="mw-editsection" len="334" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Documentaries and debates<span class="mw-editsection" len="347" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Nice Guys Finish First (1987)
 * The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
 * Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
 * Break the Science Barrier (1996)
 * The Root of all Evil? (2006)
 * The Enemies of Reason (2007)
 * The Four Horsemen, Episode One (2007)
 * The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
 * Dawkins spoke several times at the annual meeting of "Technology, Entertainment, Design" (so-called TED-talks). His short lectures there were called An atheist's call to arms and The universe is queerer than we can suppose.