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Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science

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Chair at the University of Oxford

TheSimonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science is achair at theUniversity of Oxford. The chair was established in 1995 for theethologist Richard Dawkins by an endowment fromCharles 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 byCharles 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

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[...] 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,A Devil's Chaplain^[5]

Richard Dawkins explained the history of the creation of the chair in a chapter of hismemoirs,Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science.^[2] In 2008, Dawkins retired and the Oxford mathematicianMarcus du Sautoy was elected to the chair.^[6]^[7]

List of Simonyi Professors

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1995–2008:Richard Dawkins, biological science
Since 2008:Marcus du Sautoy, mathematical science

List of Simonyi Lectures

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Richard Dawkins established an annual "Charles Simonyi Lecture" at theUniversity 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

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^Charles Simonyi's manifestoArchived 5 February 2016 at theWayback Machine,University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December 2015).
^^a ^bRichard 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 fromthe original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved13 March 2008.
^"Aims of the Simonyi Professorship". 23 April 2008. Archived fromthe original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved28 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 fromthe original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved13 March 2008.
^Richard Dawkins."Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science". RichardDawkins.net. Retrieved29 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 ^bThe Simonyi Lectures,University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December 2015).

Bibliography

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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

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v t e Richard Dawkins
Bibliography Views
Books	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) The Genetic Book of the Dead (2024)
Related works	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)
Documentaries	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)
See also	Meme Atheist Bus Campaign Out Campaign Gerin oil Foundation for Reason and Science Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit Lalla Ward Weasel program Marian Dawkins Middle World Go God Go Go God Go XII God's utility function Courtier's reply Spectrum of theistic probability Universal Darwinism Endless Forms Most Beautiful When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow Richard Dawkins Award
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