Clinton Richard Dawkins is a British science writer and zoologist, who was appointed the first Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001 and of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997. His published works have been popularizations of Darwinism, original contributions to evolutionary theory, defenses of scientific rationalism, and critiques of religion. All but one of his books have been aimed at nonspecialist readers.

Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 26, 1941, where his father moved during World War II to join the Allied forces. Dawkins studied zoology as an undergraduate at Oxford University, where he also took his doctorate, specializing in ethology, the science of animal behavior, and working ...