Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator, and author, born in Africa. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. 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.

Dawkins is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design as well as for being a vocal atheist. Some fellow academics have described Dawkins as a secular or atheist fundamentalist. Dawkins wrote ''The Blind Watchmaker'' in 1986, arguing against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a ''blind'' watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any sentient designer. In 2006, Dawkins published ''The God Delusion'', writing that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. He founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science in 2006. Dawkins has published two volumes of memoirs, ''An Appetite for Wonder'' (2013) and ''Brief Candle in the Dark'' (2015). Provided by Wikipedia