Wednesday 1 January 2014

Jim Al-Khalili - new President of British Humanist Association



3m40s – 4m42s: ‘First and foremost, as you may have gathered, I am a scientist. So I view the world as a scientist views the world. I'm curious about the universe and our place in it, sometimes to the point of obsession. That’s what defines me as a scientist. I have a rational unshakeable conviction that our universe is understandable, that mysteries are only mysteries because we have yet to figure out, the almost always logical answers. For me there is simply no room, no need, for a supernatural divine being to fill in the gaps in our understanding.  We’ll get there, we’ll fill in those gaps with objective scientific truths: [with] answers that aren't subjective, because of cultural or historical whims or personal biases, but because of empirically testable and reproducible truths. We may not get the full picture, we may never get the full picture, but science allows us to get ever closer.’ Jim Al-Khalili, AGM 2013



Jim Al-Khalili 11th President
- British Humanist Association
In January 2013, Professor Jim Al-Khalili became the 11th (after Toynbee Smith Rayner Bondi Hemming Blackham Melly Leach Ayer HuxleyPresident of the British Humanist Association (BHA). Jim will retain the Presidency for 3 years.

Humanists4Science Committee would like to congratulate Jim Al-Khalili on becoming the BHA President.

BHA quote Jim Al-Khalili:-
"The most wondrous and surprising thing about our world is that it is rational and explicable. Appealing to the supernatural adds nothing to our understanding of our place in the Universe."
In the March/April edition of New Humanist Magazine Jim Al-Khalili says:-
"A lot of people say science is just one way of looking at the world, at reality, and poets and musicians and, of course, people of faith, have said there are other ways. I don't buy that. For me there is an objective reality that is there and real. For a theoretical physicist who's trained in thinking about quantum mechanics, which involves the idea that by observing something you alter its nature, you have to have some sort of working definitions of reality"
Amongst his many recent achievements Jim Al-Khalili hosts the Radio 4 programme "The Life Scientific". Each week, Jim al-Khalili invites a leading scientist to tell us about their life and work. He'll talk to Nobel laureates as well as the next generation of beautiful minds to find out what inspires and motivates them and what their discoveries might do for us. All 46 episodes can be downloaded. Read Jim Al-Khalilis' own official website.

Chris Street 2nd Chair
- Humanists4Science
Chris Street
Chair Humanists4Science



Humanists4science (H4S) is affiliated to the BHA. The H4S Mission is "To promote, within the humanist community, the application of the scientific method to issues of concern to broader society." Our Vision is "A world in which important decisions are made by applying the scientific method to evidence rather than according to superstition."

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