Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941 in Nairobi. An English evolutionary biologist and writer, Dawkins is best known for popularizing the gene-centered view of evolution in The Selfish Gene, in which he also introduced the idea of the meme as a unit of cultural transmission. His other books include The Blind Watchmaker, which argues for natural selection as an explanation for complex design, and The God Delusion, a bestselling critique of religion. He held the Charles Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, and has been a prominent figure in the atheist movement. His opinions have drawn both admiration and strong criticism.
Before and after
- 16 February 1941Birth of Kim Jong-il
- from 25 February 1941 to 27 February 1941February strike
- 4 March 1941Operation Claymore
- 16 March 1941Birth of Bernardo Bertolucci
- 26 March 1941Birth of Richard Dawkins
- 28 March 1941Death of Virginia Woolf
- from 6 April 1941 to 30 April 1941Battle of Greece
- from 6 April 1941 to 15 May 1945World War II in Yugoslavia
- from 6 April 1941 to 18 April 1941Invasion of Yugoslavia
More in Science & technology
- 15 September 1917Launch of Forbes
- 1923Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory
- 1933Karl Jansky detects radio waves from the Milky Way
- 4 March 1936First flight of LZ 129 Hindenburg
- from c. 1940s to 1960sGreen Revolution
- 1944Avery, MacLeod and McCarty show that DNA carries genes
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.