Richard Dawkins is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author whose work transformed how evolution is understood and communicated. He is internationally recognized for advancing the gene-centered view of natural selection, first articulated in his landmark book The Selfish Gene, and for his prominent role as a public defender of science, rationalism, and secular humanism.

Early Life and Background

Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi, Kenya. His full name is Clinton Richard Dawkins. Although born in East Africa, he is English by origin. His father, Clinton John Dawkins, was working in the region during the Second World War. In 1949, the family returned to England, where Dawkins spent the rest of his childhood.

He grew up at Over Norton Park, the family farm near Oxford. This rural environment, marked by close daily contact with animals and natural ecosystems, strongly influenced his later interest in ethology and evolutionary biology.

Education and Intellectual Formation

Between 1954 and 1959, Richard Dawkins was educated at Oundle School. He later studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962. He completed his doctorate in 1966, entering a scholarly tradition shaped by figures such as Charles Darwin and later evolutionary theorists who emphasized natural selection as the central explanatory mechanism of life.

During his academic formation, Dawkins was intellectually influenced by developments in ethology associated with figures like Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen, whose work on animal behavior helped define the scientific framework within which Dawkins later developed his own ideas.

Academic Career

From 1967 to 1969, Richard Dawkins worked in zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, a period that exposed him to the dynamic and often controversial debates surrounding evolutionary theory in the United States.

In 1970, he returned to Oxford University, where he spent the majority of his academic career. From 1995 until his retirement in 2008, he held the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, a position previously occupied by no one and created to encourage scientists to engage directly with the public.

The Selfish Gene and Scientific Legacy

Richard Dawkins rose to international prominence with the publication of The Selfish Gene in 1976. Building on earlier gene-focused ideas in evolutionary biology, he argued that genes, rather than organisms or species, are the primary units of natural selection. This perspective did not deny the importance of organisms but reframed them as vehicles constructed by genes for their own replication.

Within the same work, Dawkins introduced the concept of the “meme,” a term coined to describe cultural units of transmission such as ideas, behaviors, and symbols. This idea later influenced thinkers in philosophy, cognitive science, and media theory, extending Dawkins’s impact well beyond biology.

Public Intellectual and New Atheism

An outspoken atheist and humanist, Richard Dawkins has long opposed religious explanations of the universe, particularly creationism and intelligent design. He served as Vice President of the British Humanist Association and became one of the most visible advocates of secularism in public life.

In the mid-2000s, Dawkins emerged as a central figure in what became known as the “New Atheism” movement, alongside writers such as Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. While each maintained distinct philosophical positions, their collective work helped shape global debates on religion, science, and morality.

His 2006 book The God Delusion became a defining text of this movement, directly challenging traditional arguments for the existence of God and questioning the social authority of organized religion.

Books

1976 – The Selfish Gene
1982 – The Extended Phenotype
1986 – The Blind Watchmaker
1995 – River Out of Eden
1996 – Climbing Mount Improbable
1998 – Unweaving the Rainbow
2003 – A Devil’s Chaplain
2005 – The Ancestor’s Tale
2006 – The God Delusion
2009 – The Greatest Show on Earth
2011 – The Magic of Reality
2013 – An Appetite for Wonder
2015 – Brief Candle in the Dark

Awards and Recognition

Richard Dawkins has received numerous international honors for his contributions to science communication, literature, and public education. His awards include the Royal Society of Literature Award, the Michael Faraday Award, and the Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association.

He was ranked 3rd in 2005 and 19th in 2008 in global “Top 100 Public Intellectuals” lists compiled by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines through international reader polls.

Personal Life

Richard Dawkins has been married three times. He married Marian Stamp in 1967 and divorced in 1984. Later that year, he married Eva Barham; they divorced in 1992 and have one daughter, Juliet Emma Dawkins (born 1984). In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward.

Selected Quotations

Source: Biyografiler.com