Freethought Almanac

Lighting a candle in toxic air.
2014-08-12
August 12: George Soros (1930)

It was on this date, August 12, 1930, that Hungarian-born American multi-billionaire, business magnate, investor and philanthropist George Soros was born Schwartz György in Budapest. His family name was changed in 1936 from Schwartz to Soros because of systemic anti-Semitism. In 1947, Soros emigrated from Hungary to England. Soros earned a BSc in philosophy in […]

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2014-07-05
July 5: Samuel Bailey (1791)

It was on this date, July 5, 1791, that English philosopher and philanthropist Samuel Bailey was born in Dunstable, England. He acquired a fortune as an industrialist and prominent citizen of Sheffield, where he was widely known as “Bailey of Sheffield,” and acquired some repute in the philosophical world through his publications, many of which […]

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2014-05-24
May 24: Samuel F.B. Morse Thanks God for What Man Hath Wrought (1844)

It was on this date, May 24, 1844, that Samuel F.B. Morse sent the message “What hath God wrought,” which inaugurated long-distance coded communication over the first telegraph line strung from Baltimore, Maryland, to his colleague Alfred Vail and an astonished Congress at the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol in Washington, […]

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2013-07-18
July 18: Richard Branson (1950)

It was on this date, July 18, 1950, that British entrepreneur Richard Branson was born. Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group, which notably includes Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, and 400 other companies. As of 2012, according to Forbes, Branson is the 4th richest citizen of the United Kingdom, with an estimated net worth […]

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2013-07-05
July 5: Samuel Bailey (1791)

It was on this date, July 5, 1791, that the English philosopher and philanthropist Samuel Bailey was born. He was educated first by his maternal grandfather and then at the Moravian school of Fulneck. He visited America to establish commercial connections, but became distracted by literary pursuits. Back in England he acquired a fortune as […]

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2012-07-28
Quick Comment: Political Chicken

So now Chick-fil-A has become politicized. If you “Eat Mor Chikin,” as the cows advise, you are homophobic and oppose gay marriage, like Chick-fil-A's president and CEO Dan Cathy – which sounds like a hermaphrodite name. Naturally, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee are rising to the defense of Chick-fil-A because, as everybody knows, the Christian […]

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2011-10-28
October 28: Bill Gates

Bill Gates (1955) It was on this date, October 28, 1955, that the entrepreneur who became chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, the world's largest software firm, Bill Gates, was born in Seattle, Washington. Born William Henry Gates III, Bill Gates was an exceptional student. After co-founding Microsoft with friend Paul Allen, Gates used quasi-legal […]

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2011-08-30
August 30: Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett (1930) It was on this date, August 30, 1930, that Warren Buffett, known as "the Oracle of Omaha," was born in Omaha, Nebraska. As Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett became perhaps the greatest investor of all time – reportedly worth almost $43 billion – second in wealth only to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. […]

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2011-07-30
July 30: E. Haldeman-Julius

E. Haldeman-Julius (1889) It was on this date, July 30, 1889, that Emanuel Julius was born in a Philadelphia tenement – later to become known as the book publisher E. Haldeman-Julius. Emanuel left school at age 13 to seek his fortune as a writer in New York and got a job on a Socialist newspaper, […]

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2010-12-14
December 14: Pierre Samuel Dupont

As Dupont explained in his Philosophie de l'univers (1796), he was a Deist.

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Ronald Bruce Meyer

Our Fearless Leader.


Daily Almanac

This Week in Freethought History (July 28-August 3)

Read about political philosopher Karl Popper, Galileo’s persecutor Urban VIII, publisher E. Haldeman-Julius, the “Age of Chivalry,” science writer James Gleick, black activist and social critic James Baldwin, Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke and more …



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