It was on this date, March 7, 1727, that French economist and contributor to the Encyclopédie André Morellet was born. After a Jesuit education, he kept all his life the title of the Abbé Morellet without religious conviction. According to the Grande Encyclopédie (1751-1772), a masterpiece of Enlightenment thought, Morellet “did more than any in […]

It was on this date, February 22, 1840, that German Marxist politician, writer, and orator August Bebel was born Ferdinand August Bebel in Deutz, Germany, now a part of Cologne. A product of the working class himself, with Wilhelm Liebknecht (1826-1900), Bebel was a co-founder of the Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1896. […]

It was on this date, September 18, 1954, that American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author Steven Pinker was born in Montreal, Quebec. In his popular books, he has argued that language is an "instinct" or biological adaptation shaped by natural selection. He is the author of six books for a general […]

Baron D'Holbach (1723) Many men without morals have attacked religion because it was contrary to their inclinations. Many wise men have despised it because it seemed to them ridiculous. Many persons have regarded it with indifference, because they have never felt its true disadvantages. But it is as a citizen that I attack it, because […]

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850) It was on this date, November 13, 1850, that Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. He once quarreled with his father over religion and, thereafter, rarely mentioned his hostility to it. From childhood, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. He spend much […]

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 […]

Kurt Vonnegut Jr (1922) It was on this date, November 11, 1922, that science fiction and satire writer Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Vonnegut enrolled at Cornell University as a biochemistry major, but left for the Air Force during World War Two. He was captured in May 1944 during the Battle of the […]

Ivan Turgenev (1818) It was on this date, November 9, 1818 (NS), that Russian Realist novelist, poet and playwright Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́нев), was born in Orel. He attended both Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities and received a Master's Degree in philosophy. He developed some sympathy for democracy in Russia, but made the […]

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 […]

Albert Camus (1913) It was on this date, November 7, 1913, that French existentialist philosopher Albert Camus was born in Mondovi, Algeria. Camus studied philosophy with the idea of teaching it, but also discovered theater and journalism, working at those endeavors full time by 1938. In World War Two (1941) he joined the French Resistance […]