Adam Rutherford

Early life and education

Rutherford, who is half-Guyanese Indian, was born in Ipswich in the East of England and was privately educated at Ipswich School.

He was admitted to the medical school at University College London, but transferred to a degree in evolutionary genetics, including a project under Steve Jones studying stalk-eyed flies.{{citation

Rutherford's other academic research was also on genetic causes of eye disorders, including the relation of retinoschisin to retinoschisis,{{citation |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140301141231/http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/9/12/1873.full |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-03-01 |doi-access=free |doi-access=free |doi-access=free

Career

Rutherford published a book on the topic of the creation of life. The United Kingdom printing has been called "two books in one",{{citation

Rutherford was the Podcast Editor{{citation |doi-access=free |doi-access=free |doi-access=free |doi-access=free

Rutherford is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, writing primarily on science topics.{{citation

He also writes on religion, notably a 10-part series on his experience participating in the Alpha course,{{citation

As a guest writer, he published an article in Wired on the possibility of using DNA for information storage.{{citation

Rutherford has returned to University College London, where he is an honorary senior research associate in the division of biosciences and teaches courses on genetics and communications.

Broadcasting

Rutherford frequently appears on BBC science programmes, on both radio and television.{{citation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211195009/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036f7w2/profiles/adam-rutherford |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 December 2013

In 2011 he presented, on BBC Four, The Gene Code,{{citation

He also appeared in BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage, with physicist Brian Cox, physician and science writer Ben Goldacre, author Simon Singh, musician Tim Minchin, and comedians Helen Arney and Robin Ince, and with The Infinite Monkey Cage Tour, the live show based on the programme.{{citation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210222617/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8946805/Brian-Cox-and-co-sexy-science-pulls-in-the-crowds.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 December 2011 Rutherford is a frequent guest on the Little Atoms radio chat show,{{citation

In 2011 he conceived and directed Space Shuttles United,{{citation

He co-presented The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry with mathematician Hannah Fry. In 2023 the programme aired its 21st series on BBC Radio 4. In October 2024 the series returned as Curious Cases, still with Fry but Dara O'Briain replacing Rutherford as co-presenter.

In late 2022, he presented the series Bad Blood: The Story of Eugenics, on BBC Radio 4. The series is based on his book, Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics.

He is also a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week.

Public speaking and outreach

Rutherford is a frequent speaker at scientific and academic events and a guest at local science and sceptical events, such as Skeptics in the Pub.{{citation

In 2013, he was an invited speaker at the QED conference in Manchester, and at the 2013 North East Postgraduate Conference, and delivered the 11th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London for Save the Rhino International.{{citation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121065121/http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/node/9668 |archive-date=21 November 2013

Rutherford was a judge and host of the award ceremonies for the 2012 and 2013 Google Science Fairs. In June 2017, he participated in a public discussion with Alan Alda at the University of Dundee, on the occasion of Alda's receiving an honorary degree from that institution. In November 2017, he participated in a debate with Robert Winston on the subject of superhumans at the University of Southampton. He is also critical of 23andMe, describing it as an "empty promise" to find out where you "came from"

Awards and honours

• 2014 Wellcome Book Prize shortlist for Creation: The Origin of Life
• 2017 Wellcome Book Prize longlist for A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
• 2021 David Attenborough Award and Lecture, Royal Society
• 2024 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize shortlist for Where Are You Really From?

Books

• Creation: The Origin of Life / The Future of Life, Penguin Books (2014),
• A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2016), – UK edition
• A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes, The Experiment (2017), – updated US edition
• Genetics (illus. Ruth Palmer), Ladybird Books (2018),
• The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2018),
• Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature—A New Evolutionary History, The Experiment (2019),
• How to Argue with a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality (2020)
• Rutherford and Fry's Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (with Hannah Fry) (illus. Alice Roberts) (2021)
• Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics (2022)
• Where Are You Really From? (2023)

Personal life

Rutherford is a founding member of the Celeriac XI Cricket club.

References

References

1. Anon. (2018). "Adam David RUTHERFORD". [[Companies House]].
2. Rutherford, Adam. "Kia ora, chur bro!".
3. Anon. (2012). "Rutherford, Adam David".
4. (4 October 2006). "One of the zany Men in White". [[East Anglian Daily Times]].
5. "BBC Inside Science – Adam Rutherford – BBC Radio 4". [[BBC]].
6. {{Google scholar id
7. {{EuropePMC
8. (10 August 2020). "Dr Adam Rutherford". UCL Division of Biosciences.
9. "Alice Roberts hands Humanists UK Presidency to Adam Rutherford".
10. Rutherford, Adam. (22 May 2012). "World Goth Day has roused dark memories in me". [[The Guardian]].
11. (6 May 2011). "Bin Laden more deadly as a martyr". [[Ipswich Star]].
12. Rutherford, Adam David. (2002). "The role of CHX10 in the development of the mammalian retina". University College London (University of London).
13. Lezard, Nicholas. (28 January 2014). "Creation: The Origin of Life/The Future of Life by Adam Rutherford – review". The Guardian.
14. Rutherford, Adam. (4 April 2013). "Creation: The Origin of Life / The Future of Life". Viking.
15. "Curious Cases". BBC.
16. "Bad Blood: The Story of Eugenics". BBC.
17. "BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, City living".
18. "An Evening With Alan Alda: Events".
19. "Creation: the Origin and the Future of Life".
20. (2013). "From Chuck D to Chuck D: Evolution, synthetic biology and the story of hip hop". 2013 North East Postgraduate Conference.
21. (23 May 2019). "Humanists will always stand up to racism: the Voltaire Lecture 2019". Humanists UK.
22. Sager, Christian. (26 August 2013). "Who Judges Genius in Google's 2013 Science Fair?". Stuff of Genius.
23. "IDS 10th Anniversary Event". University of Southampton.
24. "The Guardian, As a geneticist, I will not mourn 23andMe and its jumble of useless health information". Adam Rutherford.
25. (25 February 2014). "Andrew Motion announces shortlist for the Wellcome Book Prize 2014". Wellcome Trust.
26. GrrlScientist. (26 February 2014). "Wellcome Trust's Book Prize 2014 shortlist announced". [[The Guardian]].
27. "Wellcome Book Prize 2017". Wellcome Book Prize.
28. "Royal Society David Attenborough Award and Lecture".
29. "Where Are You Really From?".