Richard Dawkins was the inaugural Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. In addition to more than 60 scientific papers, he has published eighteen books, including the[…]
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Aside from Darwin, the famed biologist is also an admirer of Carl Sagan, Alfred Russell Wallace, and Shakespeare.
Question: Who are your heroes?
Richard Dawkins: Darwin obviously. Wallace, who's the unsung hero who independently thought of the idea. Many great scientists of the past. Peter Medawar -- I admire his writing style very much. Carl Sagan. Yes, many -- I mean, I admire great poets as well. I'm not sure that I'd call them exactly heroes. I mean, Shakespeare affects me when I read his extraordinary command of language; I admire it hugely. Yeah I suppose he is -- so he is a hero, yes, whoever he was.
Recorded on: October 21, 2009. Interviewed by Paul Hoffman.
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