ISCID Encyclopedia of Science and Philosophy - BETA

Make Entry -- Become an Editor -- Most Popular: (10, 25, 50, 75, 100)

   Help

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins (b. 1941) is Lecturer in Zoology (1970-present) at Oxford University and the author of numerous books on Darwinian evolution including the The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. He is perhaps the most well known scientist in the world.

Dawkins' biggest claim to fame is his championing of a gene-centric biology, whereby genes are the central units and agents of life and evolution. On his view, evolution works almost exclusively at the level of genes: selection favors genes that maximize their copies.

Richard Dawkins was educated under the tutelage of ethologist Niko Tinbergen at Oxford University. He proceeded to become Assistant Professor of Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley from 1967-1969 after which he began his current position at Oxford. Dawkins published his first book (The Selfish Gene) in 1976, six years after joining the faculty at Oxford.

In 1995 Richard Dawkins became the first holder of the newly endowed Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. In 1997 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Richard Dawkins is the bestselling author of seven books which include The Selfish Gene(1976; second edition 1989), The Extended Phenotype (1982), The Blind Watchmaker (1986), River Out of Eden (1995), Climbing Mount Improbable (1996) and Unweaving the Rainbow (1998).


Web Resources On Richard Dawkins

The World of Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins - The Third Culture
Revolutionary Evolutionist


Book Resources On Richard Dawkins

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins

Related Topics

Memetics

Blind Watchmaker

Daniel Dennett


Cite Entry



 

 

Site Maps: Most Recent | Clusters | Browse
New: Graduate Student Job Opportunity



ISCID - International Society For Complexity, Information, and Design about iscid iscid fellows pcid iscid archive iscid membership Bibliography iscid essay contests ISCID Conferences iscid contact information iscid iscid member services iscid news brainstorms Donations
All content
© 2001-2005 ISCID

Link to ISCID
ISCID - International Society For Complexity, Information, and Design Logo