Robert May, Baron May of Oxford
Robert McCredie "Bob" May, Baron May of Oxford, OM, AC, Kt ( born January 8, 1936 in Sydney ( New South Wales, Australia) ) is a British physicist and biologist.
May from 2000 to 2005, President of the Royal Society. He conducted research mainly in the fields of zoology and theoretical biology. He teaches at Imperial College London.
Career
Robert May in 1956 with a degree in theoretical physics and chemical engineering at the University of Sydney from. In 1959 he received his doctorate in theoretical physics. Initially he worked as a professor of physics at the University of Sydney until 1962, he was appointed professor of biology at Princeton University. In 1979 he was elected as a member of the venerable English Royal Society and received in 1988 a reputation as a professor at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford. 1996 struck him Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight Bachelor knighted. In 2000 he was finally lifted president of the Royal Society, a year later due to his scientific life's work as a life peer in the peerage. Originally May had sought the title of " Baron May of Woollahra " after a suburb of Sydney, which did not materialize due to opposition of the Australian Protocol Office, so he chose the title Baron May of Oxford, of Oxford in Oxfordshire. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of Merit in 2002.
Robert May has received a variety of scientific and social awards and is characterized by a variety of offices in the scientific enterprise. Among other things, he was chief scientific adviser to the British government since 2001 Cross Bencher in the House of Lords as well as board member of the British Science Association. In addition, an honorary doctorate was awarded to him by numerous universities.
May apply with works from the 1970s not only as influential on the theoretical ecology and population biology, he was also a pioneer of chaos theory by presenting simple models, which showed very complicated behavior.
Positions
Lord May is an avowed agnostic and has been used regularly for stricter measures against anthropogenic climate change as a more popular scientific teaching of evolutionary theory in the wake of Charles Darwin.
From the perspective of Lord May of climate change is the biggest problem that humanity has ever met. At the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009, he criticized fundamentalist religious views of the religious right as the main exponent of skepticism and denial in the controversy surrounding global warming. Anyone think religiously due to an imminent end of the world, do not care about climate change. However, May admitted that the faith had also caused to a powerful deity in the past, an enhanced social cooperation and unity. This is exactly what would be necessary for the fight against climate change, a supernatural criminal instance as the increased use of religious leaders to combat climate change are possible solutions in order to enforce the May According necessary drastic and radical measures.
Quotes
" Climate change is the biggest problem- did mankind ever faced Has. No other species in the history of life on Earth Has ever faced a problem of its own creation did is as serious as this one. [ ... ] We have to confront this threat. Unfortunately the media all too Often does this in a way did relegates the most important issue facing our species as if it was a soccer match Between Two competing sides of equal strength. It's not. If you want to compare it [the debate over the existence of global warming ] to a football match, it is more like Manchester United taking on three primary school children. It is as ridiculous as that. On one hand, you have the Entire scientific community and on the other you have a handful of people, half of them crackpots. Nevertheless, this is quietly presented as to unresolved battle. That is simply not true. It has been resolved. Only the details of climatic change 's impact have still to be worked out. "