David Attenborough ... the Darwin of our Time

Indeed. I am unaware of ANY original contribution to science, whatever, by Attenborough.

Attenborough is an extremely gifted broadcaster and that, we can all agree, is very valuable indeed to society in shaping public attitudes to the natural world for the better. But that is, it should be needless to say, quite different from making major contributions to scientific knowledge, which is what Darwin and the other great scientific innovators have done.

Ironically though, perhaps claiming he is the "Darwin of our time" contains a sort of perverse truth, in that "our time" appears to be one in which the public (e.g. people like paddo) can no longer distinguish between science and television programmes about it!

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sadly if this wasn't simply an excersise in supporting a mate that has made a fool of himself by smugly referring to Attenborough as

then I would be surprised. But knowing the hypocrtical stance you have taken in the past, no, its no surprise.

I can certainly distinguish between science and television, but unlike you, I aint simply playing games and sticking up for a mate that has belittled a great man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough
David Frederick Attenborough OM CH CVO CBEFRS FLS FZSFSA FRSGS (/ˈætənbrə/; born 8 May 1926)[2][3] is an "English broadcaster and natural historian. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural history documentaryseries forming the Life collectionthat together constitute a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth. He is a former senior managerat the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. He is the only person to have won BAFTAs for programmes in each of black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K.[4][5]

Attenborough is widely considered a national treasure in Britain, although he himself does not like the term.[6][7][8] In 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide poll for the BBC.[9] He is the younger brother of the director, producer and actor Richard Attenborough,[10] and older brother of the motor executive John Attenborough."

Styles and honours

• Mr David Attenborough (1926–1974)
• Mr David Attenborough CBE (1974–1983)
• Mr David Attenborough CBE FRS (1983–1985)
• Sir David Attenborough CBE FRS (1985–1991)
• Sir David Attenborough CVO CBE FRS (1991–1996)
• Sir David Attenborough CH CVO CBE FRS (1996–2005)
• Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS (2005–2007)
• Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS FSA (2007–)

Honorary titles
By January 2013, Attenborough had collected 32 honorary degrees from British universities,[65]more than any other person.[66][67] In 1980, he was honoured by the Open University with whom he has had a close association throughout his career. He also has honorary Doctor of Science awards from the University of Cambridge (1984) and University of Oxford (1988).[68] In 2006, the two eldest Attenborough brothers returned to their home city to receive the title of Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University of Leicester, "in recognition of a record of continuing distinguished service to the University."[69] David Attenborough was previously awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the university in 1970, and was made an honorary Freeman of the City of Leicester in 1990. In 2013, he was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Bristol.[70] In 2010, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, his first in Africa.

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continued:
Attenborough has received the title Honorary Fellow from Clare College, Cambridge (1980), the Zoological Society of London (1998), the Linnean Society (1999), the Institute of Biology (Now the Royal Society of Biology) (2000) and the Society of Antiquaries (2007). He is Honorary Patron of the North American Native Plant Society[71] and was elected as a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science.[72]
A fossilised armoured fish discovered in Western Australia in 2008 was named Materpiscis attenboroughi, after Attenborough had filmed at the site and highlighted its scientific importance in Life on Earth.[96] The Materpiscis fossil is believed to be the earliest organism capable of internal fertilisation. A miniature marsupial lion, Microleo attenboroughi, was named in his honour in 2016.[97][98] The fossil grasshopper Electrotettix attenboroughi was named after Attenborough. In March 2017, a 430 million year old tiny crustaceanwas named after him. Called Cascolus ravitis, the first word is a Latin translation of the root meaning of "Attenborough", and the second is based on a description of him in Latin
In 2018, a new species of phytoplankton, Syracosphaera azureaplaneta, was named to honour The Blue Planet, the TV documentary presented by Attenborough, and to recognise his contribution to promoting understanding of the oceanic environment
Lectures
In 1973, he was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on The Language of Animals.
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And exchemist, much much more if you ever decide to approach the subject honestly, rather then just agreeing with your mate origin, that he has a nice voice, then your own honesty on the matter, would not be so obviously shown to be in question. Or is it more to do with the fact that he opposed the inclusion of creationism in state funded independent schools.
"In 2002, Attenborough joined an effort by leading clerics and scientists to oppose the inclusion of creationism in the curriculum of UK state-funded independent schools"
and
"That's why Darwinism, and the fact of evolution, is of great importance, because it is that attitude which has led to the devastation of so much, and we are in the situation that we are in."
and
"He strongly opposes creationism and its offshoot "intelligent design", saying that a survey that found a quarter of science teachers in state schools believe that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in science lessons was "really terrible"
from the previous WIKI link....
No contribution to science indeed! It seems we have another river in exchemist!

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how very very sad.

 

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I would be extremely surprised if DA welcomed any comparison to Darwin (it would need Trump's "chosen one" traits to go down such a path) but he has quite obviously made positive contributions to science .

I have had the luck to be directly behind him in the supermarket checkout queue a couple of years ago . So I know what I am talking about and quite clearly have made my own small but significant contribution to science by being there

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Calm down, it's not that big of a deal.
A silly statement was made in the OP and called him on it. I am sure Attenborough is a great person, but he sure ain't the 'Darwin of our time'.

 

Alrigh, that made me LOL.

 

Heh heh.

Quite funny to put 50p in Paddo's slot though, eh? Ting, ting, ting, chugga, chugga, chugga, etc.

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From the beginning of the thread, it was clear to me that Attenborough is like Darwin in that he "changed the way we see the natural world". No new theories needed.

 

The only silly statement was by yourself silly...You know the one...."he has a nice voice"
And I'm quite calm, cool and collected, and certainly am able to pull fools into line when for whatever reasons, they start acting like a big jerk in belittling someone like DA.

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Bingo, and one would really need to be a jerk to not understand that.

 

Again was it his stance against creationism and ID in schools that have made you spring to the defence of a fool who chooses to belittle a national treasure by claiming he has a nice voice?

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Yes, I can certainly agree with that.

 

Pretty thorough James, but you did forget this....

A shame James you are unable to practise what you preach. You know James, even handiness and fairness? but mates are mates are mates.

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Is David Attenborough is the Darwin of our time? (lol

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), if he is, does that make Steve Irwin the Alfred Russell Wallace of our time?

What about Carl Sagan too, does that make him the Isaac Newton of his time? Again~lol

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,

Sorry, but...

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Your honesty and sincerity has been questioned a few times now by more then I. You have even admitted to lying, or are you denying that too. No, I'm not going to reference it.

 

and here we have the heart of their opposition
they are climate change deniers and fear David getting a global recognition.

Climate Change Deniers are seriously worried their flat-Earth ideologies are going to lose political power in the nutter vote slim hold on power.
climate change deniers are also typically anti equal rights for women & LGBTQ+.

 

David has enabled Film crews to be funded to go and record animals for the first time.
this advances science, there for, is a scientific contribution to science

simple
logic
fact

socially he has inspired many children to study science
this is also a very big contribution to science
new minds for science thinking in new ways
this is a contribution of science to science

simple
logic
fact

it is hard to read you post without thinking you have some type of inferiority complex to do with scientific accreditation.
maybe that is one of your own issues that may be common in some circles.
however, regardles of how bad that may be, that does not detract from Davids Contribution, which seems from a very casual observation to be quite astoundingly significant.