Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins (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 Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008, and is on the advisory board of the University of Austin.^[5][6] 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.^[7]

A vocal atheist, Dawkins is known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.^[8] He wrote The Blind Watchmaker (1986), in which he argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a creator deity based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and natural selection are unguided by any sentient designer. In his book The God Delusion (2006) he argues that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and calls religious faith a delusion. The Sunday Times described the book as one of the 12 most influential books since World War II.^[9] 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).