Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science
The Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science is a chair at the University of Oxford. The chair was established in 1995 for the ethologist Richard Dawkins by an endowment from Charles Simonyi.[1][2] The aim of the Professorship is 'to communicate science to the public without, in doing so, losing those elements of scholarship which constitute the essence of true understanding'. It is a position that had been endowed by Charles Simonyi with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field",[3] and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins.[4]
History
[...] if I am asked for a single phrase to characterize my role as Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, I think I would claim Advocate for Disinterested Truth.
Richard Dawkins explained the history of the creation of the chair in a chapter of his memoirs, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science.[2] In 2008, Dawkins retired and the Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy was elected to the chair.[6][7]
List of Simonyi Professors
- 1995–2008: Richard Dawkins, biological science
- Since 2008: Marcus du Sautoy, mathematical science
List of Simonyi Lectures
Richard Dawkins established an annual "Charles Simonyi Lecture" at the University of Oxford. He invited the following speakers:[8][9]
- Daniel Dennett (1999), "The evolution of culture "
- Richard Gregory (2000), "Shaking hands with the universe"
- Jared Diamond (2001), "Why did human history unfold differently on different continents?"
- Steven Pinker (2002), "The blank slate "
- Martin Rees (2003), "The mystery of our complex cosmos"
- Richard Leakey (2004), "Why our origins matter"
- Carolyn Porco (2005), "In orbit! Cassini explores the Saturn system "
- Harry Kroto (2006), "Can the internet save the Enlightenment?"
- Paul Nurse (2007), "The great ideas of biology "
- Richard Dawkins (2008), "The purpose of purpose"
Marcus du Sautoy, second Simonyi Professor, invited:[9]
- Timothy Gowers (2009), "Open-source mathematics "
- Christof Koch (2010), "Consciousness: confessions of romantic reductionist"
- David Spiegelhalter (2011), "Working out the odds"
- Luc Steels (2012), "Can machines be creative?"
- W. Ian Lipkin (2013), "Of microbes and men: tales of the small game hunter"
- Eric Weinstein (2013 special lecture), "Geometric unity"
- David MacKay (2014), "Why climate change action is difficult, and how we can make a difference"
- Melissa Franklin (2015), "Putting the Higgs boson in its place"
Notes and references
- ^ Charles Simonyi's manifesto Archived 5 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December 2015).
- ^ a b Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Bantam Press, 2015 (ISBN 978-0-59307-256-1). Chapter "Simonyi Professor", pages 271-307.
- ^ Simonyi, Charles (15 May 1995). "Manifesto for the Simonyi Professorship". The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ^ "Aims of the Simonyi Professorship". 23 April 2008. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
- ^ Richard Dawkins, "Science, Genetics and Ethics: Memo for Tony Blair", A Devil's Chaplain, Phoenix, 2003, page 43 (ISBN 978-0-7538-1750-6).
- ^ "The Current Simonyi Professor: Richard Dawkins". The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ^ Richard Dawkins. "Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science". RichardDawkins.net. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Bantam Press, 2015, page 282 (ISBN 978-0-59307-256-1).
- ^ a b The Simonyi Lectures, University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December 2015).
Bibliography
- Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Bantam Press, 2015 (ISBN 978-0-59307-256-1). Chapter "Simonyi Professor", pages 271-307.
External links
- Official website
- Charles Simonyi's manifesto
- v
- t
- e
- The Selfish Gene (1976)
- The Extended Phenotype (1982)
- The Blind Watchmaker (1986)
- River Out of Eden (1995)
- Climbing Mount Improbable (1996)
- Unweaving the Rainbow (1998)
- A Devil's Chaplain (2003)
- The Ancestor's Tale (2004)
- The God Delusion (2006)
- The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (2009)
- The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True (2011)
- An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist (2013)
- Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science (2015)
- Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist (2017)
- Outgrowing God: A Beginner's Guide (2019)
- Books Do Furnish a Life: Reading and Writing Science (2021)
- Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution (2021)
- Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
- Dawkins vs. Gould (2001)
- Beyond Belief (2006)
- Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think (2006)
- The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (2008)
- Nice Guys Finish First (1987)
- The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
- Break the Science Barrier (1996)
- The Atheism Tapes (2004)
- The Root of All Evil? (2006)
- The Enemies of Reason (2007)
- The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
- Faith School Menace? (2010)
- Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
- The Unbelievers (2013)
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