This month sees the publication of “An Appetite For Wonder: The Making of a Scientist”, the biography of a man who appears to be both loved and loathed in equal measure, none-other than Professor of evolutionary biology Richard Dawkins.
Dawkins rose to prominence in 1976 following the publication of “The Selfish Gene” which laid out a gene centred view of evolution that struck a chord with both academics and those with only a passing interest in evolutionary biology and also introduced the concept of a “meme” into popular culture. This originally referred to an idea or behaviour that undergoes natural selection in a way similar to a gene but over time has come to refer to pictures of kittens and variations of Harlem shake (Google "meme" and both of these come up, I swear). However, Dawkins gained a whole new form of notoriety in 2006 following the publication of “The God Delusion” - a scathing attack on organized religion and the concept of theistic god.
Since this point Dawkins’ desirability has skyrocketed and he is now recognized by many as a champion of atheism first
and a biologist second. Between organizing such things as the “out campaign” -which encourages people to publicly declare atheism in a manner similar to “coming out of the closet”- and generating internet memes of his own (see below), Dawkins has made it his mission to expose and campaign against not only fundamentalist religion, but all forms of religion in general, which, naturally, has gained him a considerable number of enemies that range from well mannered folk with well thought out arguments to the sort of nutjobs that write wiki’s for conservapedia (and for those of you not familiar with this particular website - no, apparently it's not a joke).
Somewhat ironically Dawkins appears to have developed a cult following of his own. However, even amongst his truly
dedicated legions of fans he is still not immune from controversy, such as that which faired up when he showed support of the rather patronizing and egotistical “Bright movement” and performed some truly bizarre rants on twitter.
Dawkins rose to prominence in 1976 following the publication of “The Selfish Gene” which laid out a gene centred view of evolution that struck a chord with both academics and those with only a passing interest in evolutionary biology and also introduced the concept of a “meme” into popular culture. This originally referred to an idea or behaviour that undergoes natural selection in a way similar to a gene but over time has come to refer to pictures of kittens and variations of Harlem shake (Google "meme" and both of these come up, I swear). However, Dawkins gained a whole new form of notoriety in 2006 following the publication of “The God Delusion” - a scathing attack on organized religion and the concept of theistic god.
Since this point Dawkins’ desirability has skyrocketed and he is now recognized by many as a champion of atheism first
and a biologist second. Between organizing such things as the “out campaign” -which encourages people to publicly declare atheism in a manner similar to “coming out of the closet”- and generating internet memes of his own (see below), Dawkins has made it his mission to expose and campaign against not only fundamentalist religion, but all forms of religion in general, which, naturally, has gained him a considerable number of enemies that range from well mannered folk with well thought out arguments to the sort of nutjobs that write wiki’s for conservapedia (and for those of you not familiar with this particular website - no, apparently it's not a joke).
Somewhat ironically Dawkins appears to have developed a cult following of his own. However, even amongst his truly
dedicated legions of fans he is still not immune from controversy, such as that which faired up when he showed support of the rather patronizing and egotistical “Bright movement” and performed some truly bizarre rants on twitter.