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]
Richard Dawkins explain 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.[5][6]
Contents
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:[7][8]
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Marcus du Sautoy, second Simonyi Professor, invited:[8] <templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
Notes and references
- ↑ Charles Simonyi's manifesto, University of Oxford (page visited on 6 December 2015).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 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.
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- ↑ Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Bantam Press, 2015, page 282 (ISBN 978-0-59307-256-1).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 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.
