British professor Richard Dawkins, probably the world's most outspoken atheist, has become embroiled in a Twitter row after he claimed the last time Muslims contributed something worthwhile was during the Dark Ages.
Professor Richard Dawkins has become embroiled in a Twitter row over his comments about Muslims. He has previously spoken of his dislike of Catholicism
His comments sparked anger among high-profile Twitter users including writer Caitlin Moran and economics editor at Channel 4 News, Faisal Islam.
Richard Dawkins offended people on Twitter yesterday when he posted this comment
His comments sparked anger among high-profile Twitter users including economics editor at Channel 4 News, Faisal Islam
Writer Caitlin Moran joined the debate and asked someone to turn Dawkins off and on again
The 71-year-old author went on to tweet that the world's Muslims had won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.
Professor Richard Dawkins has become embroiled in a Twitter row over his comments about Muslims. He has previously spoken of his dislike of Catholicism
His comments sparked anger among high-profile Twitter users including writer Caitlin Moran and economics editor at Channel 4 News, Faisal Islam.
Moran tweeted: 'It's time someone turned Richard Dawkins off and then on again.
'Something's gone weird.'
While Islam said: 'Actually, over the last two decades, it's 8-4 against Trinity.
'I say this as a muslim alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge.
'Of course if @RichardDawkins had any clue what he was talking about, he'd know to strip out the Economics Nobels, which aren't quite real'.
One Twitter user said Muslims were responsible for alchemy and algebra.
But Dawkins replied: 'Indeed, where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?'
There has been a total of 10 Nobel prizes awarded to Muslims while Trinity College, Cambridge, has 32 Nobel laureates.
Trinity College, Cambridge
It is not the first time Dawkins has angered the Muslim population after he described looters who destroyed manuscripts in Mali as 'Islamic barbarians' in January.
Richard Dawkins offended people on Twitter yesterday when he posted this comment
His comments sparked anger among high-profile Twitter users including economics editor at Channel 4 News, Faisal Islam
Writer Caitlin Moran joined the debate and asked someone to turn Dawkins off and on again
The 71-year-old author was referring to the severe damage caused by Islamist extremists to a sacred library in Timbuktu but his remarks were seen as insulting to all Muslims.
Dawkins is an award-winning ethologist and author.
A former Oxford Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, Dawkins is a dedicated admirer of Charles Darwin, and regards the Victorian pioneer of evolution as the man who explained 'everything we know about life'.
He is perhaps best known for his strong religious criticism and his atheist views.
The author of several books, his contempt for religion is most evident in his 2006 bestseller, The God Delusion.
HE'S AT IT AGAIN! PROFESSOR'S STREAM OF INCENDIARY STATEMENTS
It isn't the first time militant atheist Richard Dawkins' outspoken remarks have landed him in hot water.
Last December he declared that being raised as a Catholic was 'worse than child abuse'. The former Oxford professor said the mental torment inflicted by the religion's teachings was worse in the long-term than any sexual abuse by priests.
Last December he declared that being raised as a Catholic was 'worse than child abuse'. The former Oxford professor said the mental torment inflicted by the religion's teachings was worse in the long-term than any sexual abuse by priests.
'Horrible as sexual abuse no doubt was, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damage inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place,' he told an interviewer on Qatar-based TV network Al Jazeera.
Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, branded his comments 'entirely unhelpful', while Roman Catholic former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: 'Dawkins doesn't know what to say next to get attention.'
In 2010 the atheist spoke of the 'visceral revulsion' he feels upon seeing a woman in a burka - which he described as a 'full bin-liner thing'.
Muslim groups accused him of being 'ignorant nd Islamophobic in the wake of his comments in the Radio Times.
The previous year, following then Pope Benedict XVI's claim that distributing condoms can 'increase the problem' of Aids, Dawkins labelled the leader of the Catholic church 'stupid, ignorant, or just dim'.
In 2008 the author announced his intention to explore the potentially 'pernicious' effects of allowing children to read Harry Potter books.
Professor Dawkins said such books were 'anti-scientific', adding that he wanted to look at the effects of 'bringing up children to believe in spells and wizards'.
Last edited: