Peter Atkins

Infobox Scientist


image_width = 150px
name = Peter William Atkins
birth_date = birth date and age|1940|08|10
birth_place = Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England
death_date =
death_place =
residence = England
citizenship = British
nationality = flagicon|UK British
ethnicity =
field = Physical chemistry
work_institutions = University of California, Los Angeles
Lincoln College, Oxford
alma_mater = University of Leicester
doctoral_advisor = Martyn Raymond Christian Symons
doctoral_students = Laurence Barron
A.D. Wilson-Gordon
known_for = Academic level chemistry text books
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prizes = RSC Meldola Medal
religion = Atheist
footnotes =

Peter William Atkins (born August 10, 1940) is an English chemist and a fellow and professor of chemistry at Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including "Physical Chemistry", "Inorganic Chemistry" and "Molecular Quantum Mechanics", three of the world's most popular chemistry textbooks. Atkins' "Physical Chemistry" which he now co-writes with Julio de Paula of Haverford College, is in its 8th edition. In addition, Atkins' "Molecular Quantum Mechanics" is in its 4th. Atkins is also the author of a number of popular science works, including "Atkins' Molecules" and "".

Career

Peter Atkins left school at fifteen 'for private reasons' and took a job with Monsanto as a lab assistant. He studied for A-levels by himself but failed to take a place at Southampton University before gaining a place, following an interview, at University of Leicester at a week's notice.

Atkins studied chemistry at the University of Leicester, obtaining a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and - in 1964 - a Ph.D. for research into electron spin resonance, and other aspects of theoretical chemistry. In 1969, he won the Royal Society of Chemistry's Meldola Medal. Atkins then taught physical chemistry at the UCLA as a Harkness Fellow [http://www.knaw.nl/vanthoff/sprekers.htm] , and later at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he was a researcher and lecturer until his retirement in 2007. [cite web |url=http://thesciencenetwork.org/BeyondBelief2/watch/atkins.php |title=Beyond Belief: Enlightenment 2 - Peter Atkins |accessdate=2008-04-05 |publisher=The Science Network]

Atkins married Judith Ann Kearton in 1964 and together they had one daughter, Juliet Louise Tiffany (born 1970). The couple divorced in 1983. He later married fellow scientist Susan Greenfield (later Baroness Greenfield) in 1991. The couple divorced in 2005.

Atkins has lectured in quantum mechanics and quantum chemistry courses (up to graduate level) at the University of Oxford. He retired from lecturing at an Undergraduate level in December 2006.

Religion

Atkins is a well-known atheist and supporter of Richard Dawkins. [ [http://www.atheistdebate.org/ Video of March 2007 debate with Alister McGrath] ] He has written and spoken on issues of humanism, atheism, and what he sees as the incompatibility between science and religion. According to Atkins, whereas religion scorns the power of human comprehension, science respects it. [cite web |url=http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=atkins_18_2 |title=Who Really Works Hardest to Banish Ignorance? |accessdate=2008-03-22 |author=Atkins, Peter |date= |work= |publisher=Council for Secular Humanism ] Atkins has also participated with debates with theists such as Alister McGrath, William Lane Craig [ [http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-atkins.html Transcript of debate with theist William Lane Craig] ] and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. [ [http://shmuley.com/articles.php?id=627 Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ] ] He is the Senior Member for the Oxford Secular Society and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

In December 2006, Atkins was featured in a UK television documentary on atheism called "The Trouble with Atheism", presented by Rod Liddle. In that documentary Liddle asked Atkins to "Give me your views on the existence, or otherwise, of god." Atkins replied, "Well it's fairly straightforward: there isn't one. And there's no evidence for one, no reason to believe that there is one, and so I don't believe that there is one. And I think that it is rather foolish that people do think that there is one." [cite episode
title = The Trouble with Atheism, UK Channel 4 TV Documentary
episodelink = The Trouble with Atheism
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airdate = 2006-12-18
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Atkins also appeared in the controversial 2008 documentary "", in which he told interviewer Ben Stein that religion was 'a fantasy', and 'particularly empty of any explanatory content. It is also evil.' [ [http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Apr08/Art_Apr08_03.html ‘Expelled’ documentary explores Darwin, Intelligent Design, religion debate ] ]

In 2007, Atkins's position on religion was described by Colin Tudge in an article in The Guardian as being non-scientific. In the same article, Atkins was also described as being 'more hardline than Richard Dawkins', and of deliberately choosing to ignore Peter Medawar's famous adage that "Science is the art of the soluble". [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2223841,00.html Review: God's Undertaker by John Lennox | Books | The Guardian ] ]

Publications

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Footnotes

ources

* "Who's Who in the World", 21st edition.
* "Debrett's People of Today". Debrett's Peerage Ltd., 2006.
* "Contemporary Authors Online", Gale, 2006.

External links

* [http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-atkins.html Transcript of debate with theist William Lane Craig]
* [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/peter_atkins/ Articles by Peter Atkins — Infidels website]
* [http://www.atheistdebate.org/ Video of March 2007 debate with Alister McGrath]