Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss to tour NZ

Richard Dawkins is one of science's best-known communicators. Photo / File

Two of the planet's best-known thinkers - evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins and theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss - are set to visit New Zealand next year.

The "Science in the Soul" tour, travelling to Auckland and Christchurch in May, will see Dawkins and Krauss discussing religious dogma, evolution, and the glory and unending possibilities of science.

A New York Times best-selling author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion, Dawkins is one of science's best-known communicators.

Voted as the world's "top thinker" by Prospect Magazine and a passionate opponent of creationism, Dawkins remains one of the most polarising figures in science.

In the wake of the Brexit decision and the election of Donald Trump as US President, he wrote in the Scientific American alongside other prominent scientists how New Zealand - a "deeply civilised small nation" - should try to lure top scientists from the UK and US eager to escape their countries and make itself the "Athens of the modern world".

His latest book, Science in the Soul, advocates the power of science, and the importance of the scientific way of thinking in a world where the term "post-truth" has been growing ever more prominent.

"I am greatly looking forward to touring New Zealand next year," Dawkins said.

"I love the can-do friendliness down under."

Lawrence Krauss is an advocate of scientific proliferation, education, and scepticism. Photo / File

Krauss is an advocate of scientific proliferation, education, and scepticism.

He is the Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where he directs the Origins Project.

Krauss authored the books The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe from Nothing, along with more than 300 pieces on cosmology and theoretical physics.

He said the "whole world perspective has changed" since his last visit to New Zealand.

"More than ever, we need to speak out in favour of reason and evidence, now in the political spectrum and as well as the religious one."

The talks follow other recent visits by famous scientists including Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dr Jane Goodall and Dr Brian Greene, brought here by Think Inc and Loop.

They will be held at Auckland's ASB Theatre on May 10, and Christchurch's Isaac Theatre Royal, on May 11. For more ticketing and other information, visit https://thinkinc.org.au/dawkins.html.