Jun 18
It was on this date, June 18, 1845, that French epidemiologist Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran was born in Paris. His first medical training was as an army doctor in the Franco-Prussian War. Laveran’s keen observations, and later travels and researches, not only made him an expert in tropical diseases, but won him the 1907 Nobel …
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Mar 28
It was on this date, March 28, 1942, that American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist Daniel Clement “Dan” Dennett III was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Although a researcher on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science and the philosophy of biology, Dennett is chiefly known, along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=6230
Dec 06
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778) It was on this date, December 6, 1778, that French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac was born in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat. He studied at the École Polytechnique, then at the École des Ponts et Chausses, and apprenticed under the famous chemist Claude Louis Berthollet. Gay-Lussac returned to the École Polytechnique to became professor of …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=4190
Nov 18
The Biblical Flood (2347 BCE) It was on this date, November 18, 2347 BCE, that Noah’s Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, after 150 consecutive days of rain. We can be sure that this story is true, because the Judeo-Christian Bible tells us so, the Church Fathers say it was so, the …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=4007
Nov 14
Charles Lyell (1797) It was on this date, November 14, 1797, that pioneering Scottish geologist Charles Lyell was born the oldest of 10 children of an active naturalist. He was educated at Oxford and turned from the law to geology, publishing his greatest work, The Principles of Geology, in three volumes from 1830-1833. His researches …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3963
Nov 11
Joseph McCabe (1867) It was on this date, November 11, 1867, that Freethought writer Joseph Martin McCabe was born in Manchester, the product of Protestant East Anglians and Irish Catholic stock. He was named Joseph, after the saint, because he was, from infancy, promised to the priesthood. He entered the priesthood at age 16 and …
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Nov 09
Carl Sagan (1934) It was on this date, November 9, 1934, that American astronomer and science author Carl Edward Sagan was born in New York City. Carl Sagan earned degrees in physics, astronomy and astrophysics. He taught at Cornell from 1968 and was a consultant on NASA’s Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo expeditions to other …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3879
Nov 08
Edmund Halley (1656) It was on this date, November 8,* 1656, that British astronomer Sir Edmond Halley was born in Hagerston, Middlesex, England (now London), the son of a wealthy merchant. He was educated at Oxford and before graduating took his first astronomical field trip in 1676, to the British-controlled island of St. Helena, where …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3869
Nov 07
Marie Curie (1867) It was on this date, November 7, 1867, that French chemist and nuclear physicist Marie Curie was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska in Warsaw, Poland. She was brought up a Catholic by her mother, but her father was a freethinker and provided her with some scientific training. She abandoned Catholicism before she was …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3858
Nov 06
Greg Graffin (1965) It was on this date, November 6, 1965, that the lead singer for punk rock group Bad Religion, and a Ph.D. in Paleoanthropology from Cornell University, Greg Graffin, was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Aside from being co-founder of his own punk-rock group, Graffin is considered one of the five leading bone tissue …
Permanent link to this article: http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3819
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