Clinton Richard Dawkins's Net Worth as of 2024
$135 Million

Clinton Richard Dawkins was born on 26 March 1941, in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa, of English descent. Richard is a writer and evolutionary biologist, best known for various books on evolution including “The Selfish Gene”. He is also credited with coining the term “meme” and has notably published books with views on religion and creationism. His efforts have helped raise his net worth to where it is now.

How rich is Richard Dawkins? As of early-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $135 million, mostly accumulated from various achievements in education, publications, television appearances and documentaries. He’s been well known since the 1970s and his continued work has ensured the rise of his wealth.

Richard Dawkins Net Worth $135 Million

Dawkins was brought up in a family that was very interested in the sciences. He believed creationism until he was shown the theory of evolution which changed his perspective on life. He attended Oundle School and then studied at and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a degree in Zoology. There, he continued his studies under the tutelage of Nobel Prize winner Nikolaas Tinbergen, eventually earning his master’s and then his PhD. After school, Richard pursued a teaching career, becoming an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley. During his time there, he became involved in anti-Vietnam War activities. In 1970, he became a fellow of New College, Oxford, eventually becoming an emeritus fellow. He became well known for his lectures, such as the “Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture” and the “Tanner Lectures”. His popularity even gave him the chance to judge events such as the “British Academy Television Awards”.

Aside from his educational career, Dawkins most notable work has been in evolutionary biology, where his main idea is that the gene is the main unit of evolution. He became widely known after publishing “The Selfish Gene” in 1976, which first noted genes as the focus. In 1982 he published another book – “The Extended Phenotype”. Richard’s work has been noted in various publications, though some of them he remains highly critical of, especially when his ideas become misunderstood in the context of other ideas. He released another book entitled “The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution”, which was lined in time with the Darwin bicentennial year. According to him, Darwinism is one of the reasons why he is amazed at the complexity of life.

“The Selfish Gene” is the book in which Richard first used the term “meme”, Dawkins explains it as any cultural entity that may replicate an idea or set of ideas. While he was the first to coin the term, the idea itself was already existent in other publications before his.

Dawkins has been very critical of creationism and religion, writing several books against it and even creating a foundation called the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. The foundation focuses on the research of the psychology of religion and belief. His most popular work against religion is the book “The God Delusion” which was released in 2006. His viewpoints have been both praised and criticised, with some scientists defending his points of view and others saying that Richard’s words are more of a personal assertion than productive criticism.

For his personal life, it is known that Richard has been married three times. His first marriage was to ethologist Marian Stamp which lasted from 1967 to 1984. His second marriage was to Eve Barham in 1984 – they have a daughter, but divorced in 1992, and Dawkins married actress Lalla Ward the same year, who he met at a production of “Doctor Who”. Richard declares himself an atheist and credits Charles Darwin as the reason for his renewed viewpoint on the explanation and complexity of life.