It was on this date, February 20, 1925, that American film director Robert Altman was born (1925). Altman was educated in Jesuit schools prior to joining the Army at the age of 18, but he lost his religion soon after joining the military. Known for several important films, including the 1970 Korean War satire M*A*S*H, […]

It was on this date, February 19, 1859, that Swedish chemist and Nobel laureate Svante August Arrhenius, one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry, was born in Vik. Popular story relates that Arrhenius taught himself to read at the age of three, and became a mathematics prodigy in childhood. He studied at […]

It was on this date, February 18, 1954, that the first Church of Scientology was established in Los Angeles, California. There’s a reason why some of us call the Church of Scientology “Where the Bullies Are”: they are notorious for their aggressive defense – not just of their religion but of their copyrighted holy books. […]

It was on this date, February 17, 1600, that Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned to death for his religious opinions at the Campo de’ Fiori in Rome. He was born Filippo Bruno, in 1548, in the Italian town of Nola, in Campania, in the Kingdom of Naples, and received a Neapolitan education. Bruno was […]

It was on this date, February 16, 1958, that nonfiction writer and a science journalist Natalie Angier was born in New York City. After studying physics and English at Barnard College, she graduated with high honors in 1978. Angier wrote about biology for Discover Magazine, then as science writer for Time magazine. As science reporter […]

It was on this date, February 15, 1748, that British jurist and social reformer Jeremy Bentham was born into a Tory family in London, the son of a lawyer. A precocious learner, Bentham studied Latin at age four and sailed through Oxford, pausing only long enough to condemn the “mendacity and insincerity” of its religious […]

It was on this date, February 15, 1820, that American feminist and social reformer Susan B. Anthony was born Susan Brownell Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts, into a strict Quaker family. Nevertheless, Anthony was taught from youth the virtues of self-discipline, principled convictions, and belief in one’s own self-worth, and developed a sense of justice and […]

It was on this date, February 15, 1564, that Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, now in Italy but then a dependency of the city-state of Florence. Galileo had proven through direct observation what Nicolaus Copernicus had only conjectured through reason and mathematics 72 years earlier: that the sun, not the earth, stands at the […]

It was on this date, February 14, 1948, that the American magician and comedian known by the single name of Teller was born Raymond Joseph Teller in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Teller is the non-speaking half of the Penn & Teller act, appearing most recently on the Showtime cable series “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” exposing frauds and […]

It was on this date, February 12, 1809 (the same date as British naturalist Charles Darwin), that Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky. The family moved to Indiana when Lincoln was eight, his mother died when he was ten, but Honest Abe not only earned a living through hard work, he managed to […]