Richard dawkins age

Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science

Chair at the University of Oxford

The Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science is a chair at the University of Oxford. The chair was established in for the ethologistRichard Dawkins by an endowment from Charles Simonyi.[1][2] The aim of the Professorship is 'to communicate science to the public without, in doing so, losing those elements of scholarship which constitute the essence of true understanding'.

Richard dawkins foundation Animal Behaviour. Evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology Psychology portal Evolutionary biology portal. The extended phenotype: the long reach of the gene Revised with new afterword and further reading ed.

It is a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field",[3] and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins.[4]

History

[] if I am asked for a single phrase to characterize my role as Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, I think I would claim Advocate for Disinterested Truth.

—&#;Richard Dawkins, A Devil's Chaplain[5]

Richard Dawkins explained the history of the creation of the chair in a chapter of his memoirs, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science.[2] In , Dawkins retired and the Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy was elected to the chair.[6][7]

List of Simonyi Professors

List of Simonyi Lectures

Richard Dawkins established an annual "Charles Simonyi Lecture" at the University of Oxford.

He invited the following speakers:[8][9]

  • Daniel Dennett (), "The evolution of culture "
  • Richard Gregory (), "Shaking hands with the universe"
  • Jared Diamond (), "Why did human history unfold differently on different continents?"
  • Steven Pinker (), "The blank slate "
  • Martin Rees (), "The mystery of our complex cosmos"
  • Richard Leakey (), "Why our origins matter"
  • Carolyn Porco (), "In orbit!

    Cassini explores the Saturn system "

  • Harry Kroto (), "Can the internet save the Enlightenment?"
  • Paul Nurse (), "The great ideas of biology "
  • Richard Dawkins (), "The purpose of purpose"

Marcus du Sautoy, second Simonyi Professor, invited:[9]

  • Timothy Gowers (), "Open-source mathematics "
  • Christof Koch (), "Consciousness: confessions of romantic reductionist"
  • David Spiegelhalter (), "Working out the odds"
  • Luc Steels (), "Can machines be creative?"
  • W.

    Ian Lipkin (), "Of microbes and men: tales of the small game hunter"

  • Eric Weinstein ( special lecture), "Geometric unity"
  • David MacKay (), "Why climate change action is difficult, and how we can make a difference"
  • Melissa Franklin (), "Putting the Higgs boson in its place"

Notes and references

  1. ^Charles Simonyi's manifestoArchived 5 February at the Wayback Machine, University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December ).
  2. ^ abRichard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Bantam Press, (ISBN&#;).

    Richard dawkins biography wikipedia death Dawkins disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould 's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria NOMA [ 91 ] and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Archived from the original on 22 April He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism 's Free Inquiry magazine and has been a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since its foundation. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction , mutation , and selection are unguided by any sentient designer.

    Chapter "Simonyi Professor", pages

  3. ^Simonyi, Charles (15 May ). "Manifesto for the Simonyi Professorship". The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 23 April Retrieved 13 March
  4. ^"Aims of the Simonyi Professorship".

    Richard dawkins biography wikipedia Archived from the original on 17 February Rest in Peace". Archived from the original on 18 July Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

    23 April Archived from the original on 23 April Retrieved 28 June

  5. ^Richard Dawkins, "Science, Genetics and Ethics: Memo for Tony Blair", A Devil's Chaplain, Phoenix, , page 43 (ISBN&#;).
  6. ^"The Current Simonyi Professor: Richard Dawkins". The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 26 May Retrieved 13 March
  7. ^Richard Dawkins.

    "Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science". Retrieved 29 March

  8. ^Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Bantam Press, , page (ISBN&#;).
  9. ^ abThe Simonyi Lectures, University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December ).

Bibliography

External links