- Coined the term "meme" in his book "The Selfish Gene" (1976).
- Stopped believing in god at age fifteen.
- Richard Dawkins is portrayed in the South Park (1997) episode "Go, God, go XII" as a hero in the future for discovering, through his affair with "Miss" Garrison, that "it's not enough to be an Atheist, you have to be a dick about it to everyone who doesn't agree with you." In real life Richard Dawkins gave a presentation at the National Secular Society Conference in London in 2012, on how to discuss one's atheism with people. He ended his presentation with a slide that read "Don't be a dick".
- He was a close friend and fan of the comedy writer Douglas Adams, who also introduced him to Lalla Ward, with whom Adams had worked when he was the script editor of Doctor Who (1963). There is a character in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy called Oolon Colluphid, a writer of controversial books such as "Where God went wrong", "Some more of God's greatest Mistakes", "Who is this God person anyway?" and "Well, that just about wraps it up for God.".
- He holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.
- Author of "The Blind watchmaker" and other books that often debunk religious ideas and explore evolution.
- He is one of the Four Horsemen of the Non Apocalypse with Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett.
- Founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science.
- His wife, the former actress Lalla Ward (The Hon. Mrs. Dawkins), is now an illustrator and illustrates his books.
- Author of The God Delusion.
- Is one of The Unbelievers with Lawrence Krauss.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content