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]

History

[...] 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 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.^[6][7]

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:^[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"