Truth hurts.
Prof Dawkins, the bestselling author of The God Delusion, wrote on Twitter that all the world’s Muslims had won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.
He went on to argue that although Muslims were responsible for many achievements during the Dark Ages, including alchemy and algebra, their contribution since then was questionable.
Writing on Twitter on Thursday, Prof Dawkins said: “All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.”
His comments sparked outrage from many high-profile writers and journalists including author Caitlin Moran and Channel 4 News Economics Editor Faisal Islam.
Moran tweeted: “it’s time someone turned Richard Dawkins off and then on again. Something’s gone weird.”
While in response to another Twitter user who wrote that Muslims were responsible for alchemy and algebra, he replied: “Indeed, where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?”
He later tried to justify his comments by saying he talked about the number of Muslim prize winners because we often hear “boasts about their total numbers”.
He wrote: “Why mention Muslim Nobels rather than any other group? Because we so often hear boasts about (a) their total numbers and (b) their science.”